Visiting Palmyra Atoll

[grantmc]

Always wonderful to hear from people who've visited such exotic locations. Thanks for your posts.

An interesting fact. The name Palmyra was the result of the ship Palmyra being shipwrecked there Nov 1802.

In respect to the horrific murders of the cruising couple the Grahams' of the Sea Wind this Youtube programme provides a useful explanation of both the crime and the resulting trials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KvmHm5v90s

[mcarthur]

"Pacific Ordeal" by K.Ainslie is a great read about the real story of a tug doing a very long tow post-ww II of ex-minesweepers across the Pacific. It features a little of Palmyra as the centre of a huge search.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by grantmc

Always wonderful to hear from people who've visited such exotic locations. Thanks for your posts.

An interesting fact. The name Palmyra was the result of the ship Palmyra being shipwrecked there Nov 1802...

On November 7, 1802, the American trading ship “Palmyra”, under Captain Cornelius Sawle, was shipwrecked on the reef [drifted on to the shores of the atoll, after a storm], which took the vessel's name, and now is known as ‘Palmyra Atoll’.
Cpt. Swale is the first person to make official reports for the atoll's existance, and establish its fixed location.
About one thousand miles southeast of Hawaii, part of the ‘Line Archipelago’, the exact location is north latitude 5° 49’ 04”, and west longitude 162° 11’ 29".

Prior to that, in 1798, the American ship “Betsy” landed on the reefs, near the atoll. The crew, who found themselves in the water, were immediately attacked by sharks. Only 10 people made it ashore, anly only 3 people survived [2 months].

In 1922 the Fullard-Leo family, of Hawaii, bought the atoll, from the owner, Judge Henry E. Cooper, of Honolulu.
In 1940, the island was taken under US control. During World War II, the American government used it to attack Japan.
In 2000 Palmyra’s Cooper Island is bought by The Nature Conservancy, for 30 million dollars. The Fullard-Leo's sell Palmyra Atoll to The Nature Conservancy, because they believe that the atoll should not be commercially developed, and that it is worth the effort to attempt to conserve Palmyra's unique ecosystem. The atoll is now a national monument, and wildlife refuge, cooperatively managed, by the US Fish & Wildlife Service [USFWS], and The Nature Conservancy.

Palmyra Atoll encompasses some of the last remaining near-pristine reef environment on earth, boasting an intact predator-dominated marine ecosystem, where species’ richness and diversity abound, with over 176 species of hard coral, and 418 species of reef fish.
Kingman Reef, a non-vegetated reef, 35 miles to the northwest of Palmyra, is another part of the wildlife refuge.

Close monitoring of the reefs’ ecosystems showed that a slow and insidious destruction was underway, caused by the deterioration of the “Hui Feng #1" [a 121 foot long Taiwanese long line fishing vessel, which ran aground on the atoll, in the summer of 1991], and other wrecks.

At Palmyra the problem lay in a native marine organism called corallimorph that was effectively smothering the corals surrounding the wreck. Research showed the spread of the organism progressively increasing due to the leaching of iron into the environment as the wreck corroded, serving as a fertilizer of sorts.
At Kingman the problem was not corallimorph, but an invasive form of algae feeding off nutrients released from the dissolving wreckage of a burned fishing vessel.

It became clear to researchers that saving the reefs [from this a "phase shift"] would rely on removing the wrecks and restoring the habitat.
In September of 2012, the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s issued an RFP for the removal of the two wrecks, from Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef.

In January 2014, they removed the F/V ‘Hui Feng No. 1', and the ‘Rust Island’, a 1940s-era 64-foot by 28-foot steel pontoon barge, from Palmyra; and an 85-foot teak fishing vesse,l of unknown origin, from Kingman.
They transported about one million pounds of scrap metal, and materials, to Long Beach, California, where it is being recycled, and made into rebar, or being disposed.

With the shipwrecks gone, the, otherwise very healthy reefs, will have the opportunity to recover, from the onslaught of added nutrients, and the explosion of invasive corallimorph, and filamentous algae.

The USFWS also led a project, to remove rats. This helped to restore two land crab species; several native plants like the rare Pisconia trees; and at least 10 breeding seabird species, including the planet's largest colony of red-footed boobies. Since the removal, there have been dramatic increases in sooty terns, white terns, black noddies, brown noddies, and white-tailed tropicbirds. The recolonization of wedge-tailed shearwaters, blue noddies, and gray-backed terns appears imminent.

“Palmyra Atoll: Removing Shipwrecks, Restoring Coral Reefs”
➥ https://web3.physics.miami.edu/~agle...gliner/tnc.pdf

“Saving the Reefs – Palmyra Atoll Wreck Removal”
➥ https://www.gdiving.com/project/wrec...alymyra-atoll/

“Marine ecosystem response to shipwreck removal at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge”
➥ https://ecos.fws.gov/ServCat/DownloadFile/42909

“PHOTOS: Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef”
➥ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsp...7640266391895/
➥ https://flic.kr/s/aHsjRq7pm4


More information on Palmyra Atoll Refuge ➥ www.fws.gov/refuge/palmyra_atoll/

More information on Kingman Reef Refuge ➥ www.fws.gov/refuge/kingman_reef/