| The Palmyra Gazette |
| Welcome to: PalmyraGazette.org Created by: Michael E. Murray January 2008 Enjoy your visit! |
developed Palmyra into a four-million-dollar naval base, and
one of the most vital links in the southern shipping route,
which saved Australia in the early days of the war.
Palmyra’s real estate problem illustrates a typical legal
situation that arises when war bases must be built fast. The
land is seized, the bases built, then the lawyers argue it out at
their wordy leisure. The matter usually ends with the owner
charging off his loss to patriotism.
As soon as the channel was usable, the Contractors’ men began
to ferry their stuff ashore in small boats fitted with outboard
motors – a long and laborious job made worse by the fact that
a swift current always seemed to be sweeping out of the
lagoon towards the sea. This current was often so strong that
the outboards could not make headway against it. The men
had to jump overboard and push their boats along. They
couldn’t understand why the tide always dropped in the
daytime when they had to work and came up only at night.
But the mystery was easily explained.
The lagoon, with its encircling barrier, acted like a storage
tank with a one-way valve. Great waves, thundering in from
the north, poured millions of tons of water over the reef into
the enclosure, where it was impounded until it had risen high
enough to flow out again over the reef to the south. This kept
the normal level at least a foot higher than the ocean outside.
When the channel was opened, this considerable head
released the water in a swift river that brought all but the
most powerful boats to a standstill. This curiosity of nature
was not confined to Palmyra. It had to be dealt with at every
atoll by broadening the channel (116) and in some cases by
cutting special discharge outlets to the sea.
The channel widening was begun at Palmyra at the earliest
possible moment by a second little dredge, a sister of the
Johnston Pilot. Meanwhile, the Marines lent the project a
brand-new landing barge, just developed, which proved to be
powerful enough to buck any current that came along.
The first camp was a neat little settlement of lean-tos on
Menge Island, among the palms; the shacks were built with
corrugated iron roofs, sloping enough so that the rain would
run off into tanks at the rear. It was expected that this
system would provide all the water the camp could possibly
use. But just in case it didn’t, the OB at Pearl had
thoughtfully furnished a couple of salt-water evaporators for
emergencies. They proved not only useful, but also essential.
Far from providing water enough for her visitors, rain-
drenched Palmyra almost drove them out with thirst. Soon
after the party landed, a three-weeks’ drought set in, and
water had to be rationed as severely as at Johnston. When it
rained again, they could not get enough.
The men came to love the rain. It never lasted very long; it
was cooling and played an endless variety of interesting tricks
with the scenery. But the dampness that went with it was
something else again. Leather goods never lasted more than a
few months; (117) a pair of shoes survived only a few weeks.
Machinery suffered even more. It rusted overnight unless it
was swathed in heavy grease.
one of the most vital links in the southern shipping route,
which saved Australia in the early days of the war.
Palmyra’s real estate problem illustrates a typical legal
situation that arises when war bases must be built fast. The
land is seized, the bases built, then the lawyers argue it out at
their wordy leisure. The matter usually ends with the owner
charging off his loss to patriotism.
As soon as the channel was usable, the Contractors’ men began
to ferry their stuff ashore in small boats fitted with outboard
motors – a long and laborious job made worse by the fact that
a swift current always seemed to be sweeping out of the
lagoon towards the sea. This current was often so strong that
the outboards could not make headway against it. The men
had to jump overboard and push their boats along. They
couldn’t understand why the tide always dropped in the
daytime when they had to work and came up only at night.
But the mystery was easily explained.
The lagoon, with its encircling barrier, acted like a storage
tank with a one-way valve. Great waves, thundering in from
the north, poured millions of tons of water over the reef into
the enclosure, where it was impounded until it had risen high
enough to flow out again over the reef to the south. This kept
the normal level at least a foot higher than the ocean outside.
When the channel was opened, this considerable head
released the water in a swift river that brought all but the
most powerful boats to a standstill. This curiosity of nature
was not confined to Palmyra. It had to be dealt with at every
atoll by broadening the channel (116) and in some cases by
cutting special discharge outlets to the sea.
The channel widening was begun at Palmyra at the earliest
possible moment by a second little dredge, a sister of the
Johnston Pilot. Meanwhile, the Marines lent the project a
brand-new landing barge, just developed, which proved to be
powerful enough to buck any current that came along.
The first camp was a neat little settlement of lean-tos on
Menge Island, among the palms; the shacks were built with
corrugated iron roofs, sloping enough so that the rain would
run off into tanks at the rear. It was expected that this
system would provide all the water the camp could possibly
use. But just in case it didn’t, the OB at Pearl had
thoughtfully furnished a couple of salt-water evaporators for
emergencies. They proved not only useful, but also essential.
Far from providing water enough for her visitors, rain-
drenched Palmyra almost drove them out with thirst. Soon
after the party landed, a three-weeks’ drought set in, and
water had to be rationed as severely as at Johnston. When it
rained again, they could not get enough.
The men came to love the rain. It never lasted very long; it
was cooling and played an endless variety of interesting tricks
with the scenery. But the dampness that went with it was
something else again. Leather goods never lasted more than a
few months; (117) a pair of shoes survived only a few weeks.
Machinery suffered even more. It rusted overnight unless it
was swathed in heavy grease.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Page 5
Paradise Island
| Remnants of the Old Machine Shed. NW Airstrip. Fire Truck |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |