27.2 Million Years Ago
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Satellite photo of Midway Atoll
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Basaltic eruptions created a shield volcano on the Hawaiian "hot spot" that broke the surface of the Pacific Ocean to build the island that would ultimately erode away to form Midway Atoll.
As the mountain island eroded and sea levels changed, limestone created by shallow water coral and coralline algae formed an encircling reef. In time, the central land sank below the sea leaving a lagoon surrounded by a circular wall of living coral. As the fringing coral reef was eroded by wind and waves, it turned to sand forming small sand islands within its circumference.
4 Million Years Ago
Albatrosses and related seabirds colonized the atoll.
July 5, 1859
Captain N.C. Brooks (a.k.a. Westbrooks), a British-born American civilian master of the Hawaiian bark Gambia, was captain of the first ship of "Westerners" to sight the atoll. The Gambia was a sealing vessel whose crew may have killed as many as 1,500 Hawaiian monk seals for their fur and oil while exploring the Northwest Hawaiian Islands in 1859. Brooks "occupied" the atoll islands, staking a claim by digging a shallow well and hoisting a flagpole. Though he was captaining a Hawaiian vessel, it is unclear whether he may have claimed the atoll for the United States by the authority of the Guano Islands Act of 1856—the act sanctioned Americans to occupy uninhabited islands to obtain bird guano for fertilizer and nitrates for gunpowder. He named the islands "Brooks Islands and Shoals" after himself. They were also referred to as "Middlebrooks Islands." On his return to Honolulu, Brooks reported the atoll but may have attempted to keep its location a secret in order to profit from selling knowledge of its position to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which he knew was searching for a mid-Pacific coal storage depot for transpacific ship refueling.
August 28, 1867
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USS Lackawanna
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Between 1860 and 1867 the question of ownership of the uncharted atoll was debated following a published claim by "Captain Snow," the owner of the Gambia during Captain Brooks' voyage. Following lobbying by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, the US government sent the USS Lackawanna to find and survey the "Brooks Islands." The Pacific Mail Steamship Company wanted to see if they could place coal on the atoll—primarily to avoid paying taxes and fees imposed at ports controlled by the Hawaiians (then the independent Kingdom of Hawaii or the "Sandwich Islands"). Captain William Reynolds located and took possession of the atoll for the United States. On August 28, 1867 the atoll became the first Pacific islands formally annexed by the US government. The name "Midway" was applied during this annexation in recognition of its geographic location on the route between California and Japan. The Steamship Company pressed for this name, believing the US Congress would be more inclined to fund atoll development if it had a strategic and geographically advantageous name. Because Midway was claimed directly by the US government, and was never part of the Kingdom of Hawaii, it was never officially incorporated as a part of the State of Hawaii.
March 24, 1870
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USS Saginaw
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The USS Saginaw arrived at Midway after Congress appropriated $50,000 ($8.5 million adjusted for inflation in 2010 dollars) to blast and dredge a channel through the reef to the atoll's interior lagoon to facilitate the coaling station for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Midway would have been capable of accommodating the largest US warships to protect US commercial shipping interests and the Pacific whaling fleet. After seven months of problems, bad weather and dwindling funds, the project was abandoned. On its return trip to Honolulu the Saginaw was wrecked on the reef off Ocean (later Kure) Island on October 29, 1870. Provisions were salvaged from the ship prior to its destruction by battering waves. Five crewmen set out in a small boat from Kure to head to one of Hawaii's populated islands to organize a rescue for the remaining crew. Thirty-one days and some 1,500 miles later, their boat was capsized by breakers off Kauai. The sole survivor of this attempt contacted authorities in Honolulu and the 88 members of the shipwrecked crew were rescued on January 4, 1871.
November 16, 1886
The small fishing schooner General Seigel, with a crew of eight, was shipwrecked at Midway (on "Green Island"—what is now Eastern Island) during a storm. The boat was on a "sharking" expedition to catch sharks by using chopped up fish, monk seals and sea turtles as bait—longline fishing was routine at the time. Shark fins were harvested and dried for Asian consumption, and livers were pressed for shark liver oil used in medicines, cosmetics, machine oil and leather tanning, among others.
On June 28, 1887, Adolph Jorgensen, one of the crew of the General Seigel, was marooned by the remaining four members of the crew (one had died of infection after he blew off his hand while fishing with dynamite) when they sailed away without him on a sampan that had washed ashore. They believed Jorgensen had murdered their captain (Frank Asberdine) and another crew member who went mysteriously "missing" on Sand Island. His guilt was never established. Lacking any navigation equipment—after 20 days subsisting only on rain water and dried fish—they made it to the Marshall Islands.
Here is an account of Jorgensen's diet while marooned on Midway:
"Seabirds were plentiful. The breasts of frigatebirds are very good, a fair substitute for beefsteak, tender when cooked; for a change, delicious grilled. I easily caught the fowl and also fish, which I had in great variety. They were tasty boiled, fried, roasted, or steamed. Nor did I lack eggs. A soup to smack your lips over can be made from small birds, which I snared, with well-beaten eggs added when the liquid was slightly cooled. Fish soup I made after the same recipe. As for the eggs alone—sometimes I boiled them, or fried or roasted them; or again made them into a pancake on a frying pan improvised from an old shovel. Tea and coffee consisted of beaten eggs in hot water."
February 2, 1888
After spending 14 months on Midway—five of them alone—Jorgensen was about to be rescued by the 467-ton British schooner Wandering Minstrel (another shark hunting vessel) when it also was wrecked, with 40 persons on board, in almost the same spot!
Because of serious ongoing crew disputes, Captain F.D. Walker, his wife and three sons stayed on Sand Island while most of the others moved to Eastern Island with Jorgensen.
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Edwardian hat
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Nine months later, in October 1888, Jorgensen and two others successfully sailed to the Marshall Islands (1,500 miles away) in one of the Wandering Minstrel's auxiliary small boats. They did not report the whereabouts of the castaways! Subsequently, six other crew members sailed off in another small boat and were never seen again. Several of the crew died of scurvy and other maladies. The remaining 16 survivors were picked up by the schooner Norma (yet another shark hunting vessel) in April 1889. These castaways also had spent 14 months stranded on Midway.
January 20, 1903
President Theodore Roosevelt placed the islands under the control of the US Navy due to recurring complaints about Midway being used by Japanese bird hunters. Roosevelt had previously sent several queries to Japan seeking assurances Japan had no plans to include Midway in their expanding empire by claiming "squatters rights." The naval presence would further strengthen US sovereignty over the atoll.
The Japanese hunters collected albatross eggs and killed seabirds for their feathers. Feathers were popular for women's hats at the turn of the century and were also used to stuff mattresses. This was during the same time frame when the Japanese virtually decimated the world population of short-tailed albatrosses on Torishima Island.
April 29, 1903
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Cable buildings on Midway
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The Commercial Pacific Cable Company's first contingent arrived on Sand Island to complete a privately-financed transpacific telegraph cable from San Francisco to China via Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines. Early depictions describe Sand Island as very low and sandy and blindingly white with sparse vegetation. The first Cable Company operations manager portrayed Midway as "unfit for human habitation." Four main concrete and iron buildings and a servant's quarters were subsequently built on Sand Island in 1904. The buildings were constructed from plans drawn by San Francisco architect Henry Meyers. Their design was inspired by tropical architecture with a second story living space, wide verandas and covered porches.
Daniel Morrison was sent as Midway Cable Station superintendant in 1906. He remained until 1921. During his tenure numerous new species of plants and some farm animals were brought to Midway—many unintentionally. While he was there, 8,100 tons of soil from Honolulu (and 90 tons more from Guam during the Pan Am years of the mid-1930s) was imported for landscaping and a vegetable garden. Termites, ants, cockroaches and centipedes were among the many pests introduced to the atoll in the imported topsoil. Today, hundreds of "Woolworth's" canaries inhabit the introduced Casuarina trees and dilapidated WWII buildings on Sand Island—descendants of the few pets brought to Midway and later released by a Cable Company employee.
June 3, 1903
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USS Iroquois
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With the arrival of Cable Company personnel it was quickly realized how routinely Japanese "poachers and squatters" were still frequenting the atoll. Lieutenant Commander Hugh Rodman of the USS Iroquois and his men seized the equipment of transient Japanese bird hunters and forced them off the islands. A dilapidated "house" built by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company during the 1870 dredging operation, and used by the former castaways, was ordered burned after it was learned some Japanese hunters using it may have had smallpox. The Commercial Pacific Cable Company was appointed custodian of Midway at that time—"custodian and justice of the peace to protect the birds."
July 4, 1903
The last section of transpacific cable was laid between Midway and Honolulu, strung in portions from San Francisco to Manila. On July 4th it carried the first round-the-world message that was sent by President Theodore Roosevelt. He wished "a happy Independence Day to the US, its territories and properties." By 1906 the cable was connected to China and Japan. Midway was strategically important as a "repeater" relay station to strengthen the signal between Honolulu and Guam. The message took nine minutes to circle the globe. Later, the Midway/Honolulu section would play a major role in the outcome of World War II.
October 22, 1903
The schooner Julia E. Whalen was wrecked on Midway while bringing supplies to the newly-established cable station.
May 1904
A US Marine Corps garrison of 20 marines and their captain was established on Sand Island to provide protection to the cable staff. They were housed in four wooden buildings, with an additional building used for storage of bullets and cannon shells. During an accidental fire, the exploding ammunition created a spectacular fireworks display for island residents. Later the Navy set mooring buoys and built a wooden lighthouse on Sand Island.
May 13, 1906
Dr. James Miller, an Assistant Surgeon in the US Navy, died of apparent appendicitis on Midway and was buried (in what is now called "Doctors Cemetery"). This was the first naval death recorded at Midway. It is unknown if Miller was stationed with the Marine unit on Midway or on a visiting Navy vessel.
1906
Military proposals for two defensive 4.7-inch guns and a magazine to be installed at Midway were scrapped after adverse publicity resulting from the plan's publication in a Congressional document.
1908
The Marine Detachment was ordered away from Midway.
1917
The first weather station was established and run by one of the 30 island inhabitants of the Cable Company colony. Wind speed and barometric pressure were recorded.
1920
Lieutenant John Lanfall of the Army Air Service traveled to Midway to investigate the potential for landing planes on Sand Island or seaplanes in its lagoon. His report: "Land planes could land on practically any part and in any direction" on Sand Island.
1921
US Navy commenced using Midway as a rendezvous location for naval vessels on the East-West Pacific runs. The Washington Naval Treaty (1921-1922) forbade fortifying Midway (and other locations) for strategic military use. Also known as the Five-Powers Treaty, the US, Japan, Britain, France and Italy negotiated an accord pre-empting a naval arms race following WWI.
1923
The Cable Company blasted an entrance for an undersea cable between Sand and Eastern Islands in the south reef.
1924
Midway was assessed by Commander Rodgers of the USS Pelican as a possible seaplane base. Later in the same year, Midway was used as a rendezvous point for eight submarines and their tender, the USS Seagull.
March 1935
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SS North Haven
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Pan American Airways secured seaplane landing rights for a transpacific "China Clipper" flying boat mail route from San Francisco stopping at Pearl Harbor, Midway, Wake Island, Guam and Subic Bay (Manila) during the crossing. The airline shipped $500,000 worth of aeronautical equipment westward in March 1935 using the 15,000-ton merchant ship SS North Haven to provision each island that the clippers would visit on their 4 to 5-day flight.
April 12, 1935
The SS North Haven arrived at Midway to set up a Pan Am "Clipper" airbase. A wooden dock and mooring barge were built in Midway's lagoon.
Construction of the Pacific Pan Am bases took place as a result of complex diplomatic and military circumstances due to Japan's expansion in the Pacific. Tensions between Japan and the US were mounting. The US Navy complained of constraints placed on it to create significant defense capabilities on strategic islands without being accused of treaty violations. Pan American Airways, with its proposed air bases, offered a way to start developing these strategic islands with a lower risk of diplomatic fury with the Japanese. At the time the Japanese were building commercial facilities in Micronesia that had "military ramifications." The Japanese start construction on Saipan.
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China Clipper
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US Post Office contracts help Pan Am finance development of the air bases. The Japanese criticized the establishment of the Pan Am bases in their domestic newspapers, but not through diplomatic channels.
May 1935
War in the Pacific seemed inevitable. Fleet Marine Force amphibious landing exercises (complete with smoke screen) were conducted at Midway. Military interest in Midway increased.
November 26, 1935
Amid much fanfare, Pan Am's China Clipper took off from San Francisco and landed at Midway Atoll at 2 PM on November 26, 1935, stopping overnight en route to Manila. Air mail service across the Pacific began.
October 1936
Pan Am inaugurated the first passenger flights across the Pacific on the China Clipper on October 21, 1936.
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Gooneyville Lodge
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Following the initiation of passenger flights, demand for passenger service proved so great that prefabricated hotel buildings with solar hot water systems were built on Midway (the "Gooneyville Lodge") and then Wake, also transported by the North Haven. Each had a lounge, dining room and 40 bedrooms. Other prefab buildings were erected for the permanent base crew. By 1938 Midway’s Pan Am settlement consisted of 20 buildings including a machine shop, refrigerator plant, radio station, radio beacon, offices and power plant. At its height the Pan Am construction crew totaled 150 men. Like the Cable Company, Pan American Airways imported soil for its settlement (from Guam).
By the end of 1936, Japan abrogated the Washington Naval Treaty (1922). The naval armament race in the Pacific commenced.
Weekly scheduled flights continued until WWII. During the war, the "flying boats" were converted from passenger service to troop and cargo transports.
May 19, 1938
"From a strategic point of view, an airbase at Midway was considered second in importance only to Pearl Harbor"—Rear Admiral Arthur J. Hepburn. USS Oglala and USS Beaver arrived at Midway with men and materials from the Hawaiian Dredging Company to dredge a channel for large seagoing ships between Sand and Eastern Islands.
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Eastern Island with newly built runways
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March 1940
Private contractors started construction of the runways on Eastern Island and other infrastructure on Sand Island in preparation for possible military operations. By 1941 three asphalt-paved runways were completed on Eastern Island.