NavList:

David C, you wrote:
"Out of interest I searched for Howland island and Mystic Seaport and can confirm that both these places exist"

Ha. Well then the database is misleading! Mystic Seaport is not a toponym, not the name of a geographical place, and it does not "exist" as a place any more than Disneyland is a place (is the Anaheim Magic Kingdom in there??). "Mystic Seaport" is, in fact, the name of a business. Mystic Seaport is a museum, privately owned and operated, located in the historical town of Mystic, Connecticut. Mystic, Connecticut qualifies as a toponym. It's a place. Yet just to make things more interesting, Mystic, Connecticut has no legal standing. There are no fixed borders to Mystic, Connecticut, and local businesses freely borrow the name to add a Mystic connection. Mystic is usually regarded as the region centered on the Mystic River estuary on both sides of that body of water, which is divided between the legal towns of Groton and Stonington. Finally, despite the fact that it is not a legal jurisdiction, Mystic does have a post office and a "zip code" in the US Postal System. You can address mail to "Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut 06355", and it will arrive just fine.

Frank Reed
Conanicut Island, New England
(which, if I go by the standards of legal jurisdictions, should be listed as "Jamestown, Rhode Island, USA", but hey, I'm a rebel)