Baker Island Light

United States Minor Possessions – Pacific Ocean

Settlement Remains
Settlement Remains

The settlement was named Itascatown after the USCGC Itasca that brought the colonists to Howland and made regular cruises between the other equatorial islands during that era.  Itascatown was a line of a half-dozen small wood-framed structures and tents near the beach on the island’s western side.  The fledgling colonists were given large stocks of canned food, water, and other supplies including a gasoline-powered refrigerator, radio equipment, complete medical kits and, characteristic of that era, vast quantities of cigarettes.  Fishing provided much-needed variety for their diet.  Most of the colonists’ endeavors involved making hourly weather observations and gradually developing a rudimentary infrastructure on the island, including the clearing of a landing strip for airplanes.  Similar colonization projects were started on nearby Baker Island, Jarvis Island and two other islands.

Kamakaiwi Field:

Ground was cleared for a rudimentary aircraft landing area during the mid-1930s, in anticipation that the island might eventually become a stopover for commercial trans-Pacific air routes and also to further U.S. territorial claims in the region against rival claims from Great Britain.  Howland Island was designated as a scheduled refueling stop for American pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan on their round-the-world flight in 1937.  Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds were used by the Bureau of Air Commerce to construct three graded, unpaved runways meant to accommodate Earhart’s twin-engined Lockheed Model 10 Electra.

Aircraft Wreckage
Aircraft Wreckage

The facility was named Kamakaiwi Field after James Kamakaiwi, a young Hawaiian who arrived with the first group of four colonists.  He was selected as the group’s leader and he spent more than three years on Howland, far longer than the average recruit.  It has also been referred to as WPA Howland Airport.  Earhart and Noonan took off from Lae, New Guinea, and their radio transmissions were picked up near the island when their aircraft reached the vicinity but they were never seen again.

Japanese Attacks During World War II:

A Japanese air attack on December 8, 1941 by 14 twin-engined Mitsubishi G3M “Nell” bombers of Chitose Kōkūtai, from Kwajalein islands, killed two of the Kamehameha School colonists: Richard “Dicky” Kanani Whaley, and Joseph Kealoha Keliʻhananui.  The raid came one day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and damaged the three airstrips of Kamakaiwi Field.  Two days later a Japanese submarine shelled what was left of the colony’s few buildings into ruins.  A single bomber returned twice during the following weeks and dropped more bombs on the rubble of tiny Itascatown.  The two survivors were finally evacuated by the USS Helm, a U.S. Navy destroyer, on January 31, 1942.  Howland was occupied by a battalion of the United States Marine Corps in September 1943 and known as Howland Naval Air Station until May 1944.

Local Plants
Local Plants

All attempts at habitation were abandoned after 1944.  Colonization projects on the other four islands were also disrupted by the war and ended at this time.  No aircraft is known to have ever landed there, although anchorages nearby could be used by float planes and flying boats during World War II.  For example, on July 10, 1944, a U.S. Navy Martin PBM-3-D Mariner flying boat, piloted by William Hines, had an engine fire and made a forced landing in the ocean offshore of Howland.  Hines beached the aircraft and although it burned, the crew escaped unharmed, was rescued by the USCGC Balsam, transferred to a sub chaser and taken to Canton Island.

National Wildlife Refuge:

On June 27, 1974, Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton created Howland Island National Wildlife Refuge which was expanded in 2009 to add submerged lands within 12 nautical miles of the island.  The refuge now includes 648 acres of land and 410,351 acres of water.

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