PALMYRA BASE

Evening Star, Issue 23324, 21 July 1939, Page 3

PALMYRA BASE

AMERICAN DEFENCE SCHEME Palmyra, that ring of plain-studded islets which lie 96U miles south of • Hawaii yet fall within the extensive boundaries of the city and county of Honolulu, is to lose its distinction as one of the bachelor islands in the archipelago, says the Honolulu correspondent of the ‘ Christian Science Monitor.’ By inclusion in the expanding Pacific defence programme of tue United States Navy, Palmyra is soon to be wedded to civilisation. Plans tor developing the atoll into a base lor naval planes and surface craft are being prepared, to _an announcement by navy officials in Honolulu.

• Palmyra will thus become one of the putposts on the navy’s new line of observation .West of Hawaii; a series of islands strategically located for use by seaplane bases. This line will begin with Kodiak Island'in the Aleutians and will swing west of Hawaii through Midway and Johnston Islands, _ south through Palmyra and Canton in the Phoenix group to American Samoa. Principal work to be done'to fit Palmyre into this semi-circle of “lookout ' ’ posts s is the ■ blasting of a channel into her spacious' lagoon and the further blasting of Soral, which nowseparates the lagoon into three distinct sections.

First intimation that the navy intended to move into Palmyra was contained in a small item tucked away in the appropriation Bill which failed to win Congressional approval last year. The item requested appropriation of 25,000 dollars for the purchase of part of Palmyra for navy use. " < Later reports’ from Washington indicated the Interior _ Department was contemplating acquisition of the atoll as a national monument. It was also suggested that the navy and Interior Departments might work out a co-op-erative scheme for use of the atoll.

Although recognising the value of the island to the navy’s scheme of defence in the Pacific, many residents of Hawaii will be disappointed to see it become another . plane base and thus lose its distinction as one of the few unmolested atolls which fit'story-book descriptions of a “ south soa_ island-” Palmyra is a chain of 62 islets encircling' a lagoon which measures approximately five and two-thirds miles east and West by one and one-half miles north and south. It is possible to walk from islet to islet by wading through shallow water separating the links in tho group, as an area ,of 46 acres; the smallest is ■ less than half an acre. All are low. The highest rises only six feet above the sea. But all are covered by a lush growth of coconut trees, some of' which tower la heights of 50 to 60ft, and are visible to xhips 12 to 15 miles at sea. Privately owned by Mr and Mrs Fullard-Leo, of Honolulu, the islands have remained uninhabited during recent years except for occasional fishing parties or when they become the temporary haven of some vagabond • yacht to or from tho South Pacific. During the last three years they have been visited regularly, by Department of Interior expedition? carrying relief personnel and supplies to colonists oa Jarvis, Howland, and Baker Islands.. These expeditions have called _ at: Palmyra to obtain coconut seedlings’for transplanting on the more barren atolls in the south.

Although records show the islands were discovered by Captain Sawle; of the American ship Palmyra on November 7, 1802, the atoll has been the subject of competitive claims by .the United States and Great Britain. Many ipaps showed the islands as British even after they were formally annexed to the United States by Admiral Sutherland, Commander-In-Chief of tho Pacific in 1912. When tho scramble for transpacific air routes was beginning in 1934, tho State Department issued a statement to the effect that Palmyra was a part of the Hawaiian group. Since tho new era of BritishAmerican “ understanding ” in tho Pacific evinced by joint British-Ameri-can occupation of Canton Island in tjia Phoenix Group, and the apparent _ acceptance by Great Britain of American claims to Jarvis, Howland, and Baker, it is generally assumed that the navy’s occupation of Palmyra will not bo challenged. . / . Territorial records show that Palmyra was acquired by Mr and Mrs Ful-lard-Leo from Henry. E. Cooper oa August 19, 1922. Since that time tho Fullard-Leos have kept hp tax payments on the property. The terms of the agreement which they have reached with the navy for use of the islands have not been revealed.