Palmyra Atoll

Palmyra Atoll, is an  administered by the. The is 4.6 s (12 km²), and it is located in the Northern  at 5.88333°N, -162.08333°W. Geographically, Palmyra is one of the (southeast of  and north of  ), located almost due south of the, roughly halfway between  and. Its 9 s (14.5 km) of coastline has one anchorage known as West Lagoon. It consists of an extensive, two shallow s, and some 50 sand and reef-rock islets and bars covered with vegetation&mdash;mostly trees, Scaevola, and tall Pisonia trees.

The islets of the atoll are all connected, except Sand Island in the West and Barren Island in the East. The largest island is Cooper Island in the North, followed by Kaula Island in the South. The northern arch of islets is formed by Strawn Island, Cooper Island, Aviation Island, Quail Island, Whippoorwill Island, followed in the East by Eastern Island, Papala Island, and Pelican Island, and in the South by Bird Island, Holei Island, Engineer Island, Tananger Island, Marine Island, Kaula Island, Paradise Island and Home Island (clockwise). Average annual rainfall is approximately 175 es (4,445 mm) per year. Daytime temperatures average 85°F (29°C) year round.

Political status
Palmyra is an of the, meaning that it is subject to all provisions contained in the  and is permanently under U.S. . However, it is also an  as there is no  act specifying how it should be governed; the only relevant law simply gives the President the discretion to administer the island as best seen fit (see Section 48 of the Hawaii Omnibus Act, Pub. L. 86–624, , , 74 Stat. 411, attached as a note to former sections 491 to 636 of Title 48, United States Code ).

The issue of Palmyra's governance is generally a moot point, as there is no indigenous population remaining nor any reason to think that there will be one in the future. It remains therefore currently the only unorganized incorporated U.S. territory. It is privately owned by and managed as a nature reserve, but administered from  by the,. The surrounding waters, out to the 12-mile (22.2 km) limit, were transferred to the, and designated as the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2001. Defense is the responsibility of the.

For statistical purposes, Palmyra is sometimes grouped as one of the.

There is no current economic activity on the. Many of the roads and causeways on the atoll were built during. All are now unserviceable and overgrown. There is a roughly 2,200 yard (2,000 m) long, unpaved and unimproved airstrip. Various abandoned World War II-era structures are found on the island.

The atoll has been manned by a group of scientists, Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers, and Fish & Wildlife representatives (totalling between four and 20 in all) for the last several years. A series of improvements in 2004 consisted of new two-person bungalows and showers for the island's inhabitants. Water is collected from the roof of a concrete building not far from the main living area of the scientists. Communal buildings of the settlement on the north side of Cooper Island (the only one on the atoll) consist of a common cooking/dining building adjacent to the Atoll's only dock and a kayak and scuba equipment storage building next to the launch ramp.

Palmyra Atoll's location in the Pacific Ocean, where the southern and northern currents meet, means that its beaches are littered with trash and debris. Plastic mooring buoys are particularly plentiful on the beaches of Palmyra, as well as plastic bottles for soft drinks, detergents, etc.

Large parts of the Atoll are closed to any sort of public access due to the threat of uncleared World War II.

History
Palmyra was first sighted in by an American sea captain,  of, while his ship the Betsy was in transit to Asia, but it was only later&mdash;on , &mdash;that the first western people landed on the uninhabited atoll. On that date, of the  ship Palmyra was wrecked on the atoll.

Many believe the atoll's discovery by Fanning to have included a occurrence, which lends to the island's. Fanning's ship was under the command of the first mate at night while Fanning slept. Fanning awoke three times in the middle of the night, each time awaking out of bed. The third time, Fanning took it as a and ordered the first mate to. In the morning the ship resumed its travel, but only went a mile before reaching the reef of Palmyra. Had the ship continued its course at night, the entire crew might have perished.

In, Palmyra was claimed by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd of the brig Josephine for the American Guano Company and the United States, in accordance with the of ; however, the company never started mining for , because there was none to be mined. Palmyra is located close to the ; there is too much rain for guano to accumulate. In the meanwhile, on, , (–), Fourth  of  (–), issued a commission to Captain  and , both Hawaiian citizens, to sail to Palmyra and to take possession of the atoll in the king's name and on ,  it was formally annexed to the.

Captain Bent sold his rights to Palmyra to Mr. Wilkinson on, and from  to ,  owned the island which was divided in  between three heirs, two of which immediately transferred their rights to a certain Wilcox (?) who, in turn, transferred them to the. The latter entity made an attempt to colonize the atoll by sending a married couple to live there between September and August.

In Palmyra was annexed to the U.S. in conjunction with the overall U.S. annexation of Hawaii; on,  it became part of the then U.S. Territory of Hawaii. In the period preceding the formal annexation of the atoll by the U.S., the had shown interest for the atoll to become part of the "Guano Empire" of  & Co; and in  the British had even formally annexed it. In order to end all further British attempts or contestations, a second, separate act of annexation of Palmyra by the U.S. was made in.

Afterwards, by a series of agreements signed between and, the Pacific Navigation Company transferred its interests to  (–). The third heir of Kalama Wilkinson transferred his rights to a Mr. Ringer, whose children in turn also transferred their rights to Henry Ernest Cooper Sr. (s.a.) in and who then became the sole owner of the atoll.

On, it was formally claimed by the U.S. government, still as part of.

In Cooper sold the whole atoll except some minor islets (the 5 "home islands") to Leslie and Ellen Fullard-Leo on  for $15,000.00. The latter party established the Palmyra Copra Company to exploit the s growing on the atoll. Their heirs continued as proprietors afterwards, except for a period of administration during.

In, , Kingman Reef, and Palmyra were placed under the. When the U.S. Navy took over to use the atoll as a on 15 August 1941, the atoll was owned privately by American citizens, including Hawaiians. It only had permanently resident government representatives, styled s, from November 1939 to 1947.

After the war, the Fullard-Leos fought for the return of Palmyra all the way to the and won in. When Hawaii achieved statehood in, Palmyra, which had been officially part of the , was explicitly separated from the new state as an of the U.S., administered by U.S. Department of Interior.

In, the U.S. Department of Defense used the atoll for an instrumentation site during high altitude atomic weapon tests over Johnston Island. There was a utility staff of about ten men who managed the camps and were present during the entire period. But there was an average of about 40 people who were there to run the instrumentation and to service the technical staff. These people represented many of the large universities and laboratories around the world.

Minor problems occurred with the protection of wildlife from servicemen and camp staff. The coconut crabs and "Goonie" birds were about the only animals of any type around the Atoll, thus there was no reported discipline issued to any individual. The main problem was the "Goonie" birds. Feasting in the evening, they could be drenched by the rain and become unable to return to their roosting grounds. Being attracted by the camp lights, they stopped over and usually regurgitated their meal all over the camps. On the other hand, The Hawaiians who were assigned to the staff were great fishermen and frequently caught many fish, lobster and octopus for the enjoyment of the occupants of the Atoll.

In July, of Honolulu took a lease on the atoll until the year  and formed the. In January, the atoll was purchased by for the purposes of  reef  and. The Cooper family still own the Home Islands.

In November, a worldwide team of scientists joined with to launch a new research station on the Palmyra Atoll in order to study , disappearing s,  and other global environmental threats.

Recently, a scientific study was published regarding fossil coral washed up on Palmyra Atoll. The fossil coral was examined for evidence of the behavior of the effect on the tropical Pacific over the past 1,000 years.

The Sea Wind murders and "And the Sea Will Tell"
In 1974 Palmyra was the site of a notable double murder, covered extensively in the novel .