A small atoll in the northernmost part of Line Islands in the vast Central Pacific Ocean, the peaceful yet mysterious Palmyra is made up a circular string of about 50 islets, nestled among several lagoons and encircled by 16,000 acres of shallow turquoise reefs and deep blue submerged reefs. Surrounding the islets and the lagoons is a platform of coral and hard sand, perfect for walking from one islet to another, even at high water. No island is more than 2 meters above high water and all are covered with dense vegetation, including the endangered Pisonia trees up to 30 meters high, as well as coconut palms.
Located 352 nautical miles north of the equator, some 120 miles northwest of Washington Island, 200 miles northwest of Fanning Island, 33 miles southeastward of Kingman Reef, and one thousand miles south of Hawaii, Palmyra survives as one of the only remaining intact coral atoll ecosystems on Earth due to its history of low human occupancy. Approximately a mile and a half long and a half-mile wide, the island has a huge bird population (over 29 species of bird), and abundant insect and reptile life, not to mention the 175 species of stony corals, countless varieties of fish, and occasionally, rare Hawaiian monk seals. The waters of the reef and the inland lagoons are prime breeding spots for gray and blacktip sharks that according to some visitors can take one-or-two victims a month.
The largest island of the atoll is Cooper Island in the north, privately owned and administered by The Nature Conservancy, while the rest is owned by the United States federal government and is administered by its Fish and Wildlife Service. Currently, the island remains the only unorganized incorporated U.S. territory (since 1959), which means that it’s subject to all provisions contained in the United States.
The island experiences long and colorful history; its first recorded sighting was on June, 1798, by Captain Edmond Fanning, however, it was officially discovered four years later by Captain Sawle of the American ship ‘Palmyra,’ hence its name. The atoll was privately owned in 1941, during the World War II and had 32 civilian inhabitants, who were evacuated before the beginning of the war. During that time the island served as a military base, but the protection of its unique natural values started already in the beginning of the 20th century. On January 6, 2009, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established, which included Palmyra Atoll national Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries.
The Curse of Palmyra Island
Perhaps best known as the location of a sensational murder case in 1974 later detailed in Vincent Bugliosi’s best-selling true crime book, ‘And the Sea Will Tell,’ the island has long been believed to be cursed, because even rationalists are astonished at the number of bizarre happenings that have been haunting the island since its discovery. The island’s strange history that includes a wealth of buried pirate treasure, tragic deaths, famous shipwrecks, military use and a recent double-murder of a vacationing couple has made it a mysterious source of superstition!
There is no current economic activity on the island. And those roads and causeways on the atoll built during the WWII are now overgrown. What you can see on the island is pristine natural beauty, as well as a 2,000 meters long, unpaved airstrip on Copper Island, plus various abandoned WWII-era structures.