Navassa Island

Navassa Island(/nəˈvæsə/;Haitian Creole:Lanavaz;French:Île de la Navasse, sometimesla Navase) is a smalluninhabited islandin theCaribbean Sea. Located east ofJamaica, south ofCuba, and 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) west ofJérémieon theTiburon Peninsulaof Haiti, it is subject to an ongoingterritorial disputebetweenHaitiand the United States, which administers the island through theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The U.S. has claimed the island as anappurtenancesince 1857, based on theGuano Islands Actof 1856.Haiti's claim over Navassa goes back to theTreaty of Ryswickin 1697 that recognized French, rather than Spanish, control of the western portion of the island ofHispaniolaand other specifically named nearby islands.However, there was no mention of Navassa in the treaty detailing terms.Haiti's1801 constitutionclaimed several nearby islands by name, among which Navassa was not listed, but also laid claim to "other adjacent islands", which Haiti maintains included Navassa. The U.S. claim to the island, first made in 1857, asserts that Navassa was not included among the unnamed "other adjacent islands" in the 1801 Haitian Constitution. Since the Haitian Constitution of 1874, Haiti has explicitly named "la Navase" as one of the territories it claims. It maintains that it has continuously been claimed as part of Haiti since 1801.The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code for the island, as part of theUS Minor Outlying Islands, isISO 3166-2:UM-76.
In 1504,Christopher Columbus, stranded onJamaicaduring his fourth voyage, sent some crew members by canoe to Hispaniola for help. En route, they landed on the island, which had no water. They called it Navaza (fromnava-,Spanishfor 'plain' / 'field'), and mariners largely avoided it for the next 350 years. In 1798,Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, a member of theFrench Parliamentbest known for his publications onSaint-Domingue, referred to "la Navasse" as a "small island between Saint-Domingue and Jamaica".
From 1801 to 1867, the successive constitutions of Haiti claimed sovereignty over adjacent islands, both named and unnamed, although Navassa was not specifically enumerated until 1874.Navassa Island was claimed for the United States on September 19, 1857, by Peter Duncan, an American sea captain, under theGuano Islands Actof 1856, for the richguanodeposits found on the island and for not being within the lawful jurisdiction of any other government, nor occupied by another government's citizens.
Haiti protested the annexation, but on July 7, 1858, U.S. PresidentJames Buchananissued an Executive Order supporting the American claim, calling for military action to enforce it. Navassa Island has since been maintained by the United States as anunincorporated territory(according to theInsular Cases). TheUnited States Supreme Courton November 24, 1890, inJones v. United States,137U.S.202(1890), Id. at 224, found that Navassa Island must be considered as appertaining to the United States, creating a legal history for the island under U.S. law, unlike many other islands initially claimed under the Guano Islands Act. Haiti's 1987 constitution maintains its claim to the island,which is considered part of thedepartmentofGrand'Anse.
Guanophosphate is a superior organic fertilizer that became a mainstay of American agriculture in the mid-19th century. In November 1857, Duncan transferred his discoverer's rights to his employer, an American guano trader in Jamaica, who sold them to the newly formed Navassa Phosphate Company ofBaltimore.After an interruption for theAmerican Civil War, the company built larger mining facilities on Navassa with barrack housing for 140blackcontract laborers fromMaryland, houses for white supervisors, a blacksmith shop, warehouses, and a church.
Mining began in 1865. The workers dug out the guano bydynamiteand pick-axe and hauled it in rail cars to the landing point at Lulu Bay, where it was put into sacks and lowered onto boats for transfer to the Companybarque, the S.S.Romance. The living quarters at Lulu Bay were referred to as 'Lulu Town', as appears on old maps. Railway tracks eventually extended inland.In September 1875, the fierce1875 Indianola hurricaneswept over the island, destroying much of the company's infrastructure, including the rail line and workers' homes. In total, the storm caused an estimated $25,000 (equivalent to $690,000 in 2023) in damage on the island.
Hauling guano by muscle power in the fierce tropical heat, combined with general disgruntlement with conditions on the island, eventually contributed to a riot in 1889, in which five supervisors died. A U.S. warship returned 18 of the workers to Baltimore for three separate trials on murder charges. A black fraternal society, theOrder of Galilean Fishermen, raised money to defend the miners in federal court. The defense tried to build a case on the contention that the men acted in self-defense or the heat of passion and even claimed that the United States did not have jurisdiction over the island.E. J. Waring, the first black lawyer called to the Marylandbar, was a part of the defense's legal team. The cases, includingJones v. United States, went to theU.S. Supreme Courtin October 1890, which ruled the Guano Act constitutional. Three of the miners were scheduled forexecutionin the spring of 1891. A grass-roots petition driven by black churches around the country, also signed by white jurors from the three trials, reached PresidentBenjamin Harrison, who mentioned the case in the1891 State of the Union Address. Among other things, he said:
Guano mining resumed on Navassa at a much-reduced level.
In 1898, during theSpanish–American War, the Phosphate Company had to abandon its operations on Navassa due to its proximity to Spanish Cuba and Puerto Rico. Company president John H. Fowler noted that the war made it impossible to find ships to deliver supplies to the island and expected his workers to be evacuated by June. Maryland senatorArthur Pue Gormancalled for a naval warship to escort supply ships to the island to help evacuate workers.In July 1898, abrogating an agreement with Haitian Naval AdmiralHammerton Killickthat would have allowed the Phosphate Company to withdraw equipment and supplies left on Navassa, a group of Haitians occupied the island and seized the company's assets. They were unable to operate the machinery, and mining ceased.The Navassa Phosphate Company went bankrupt and the island was sold at auction in the United States in September 1900.A dispute over the sale hampered efforts to restart mining on the island and left four contract workers virtually abandoned on Navassa from December 1900 to May 1901.Between 1857 and 1898, approximately 1 million pounds (450,000 kg) of phosphate deposits were removed from the island.
In 1905, theU.S. Lighthouse Serviceidentified Navassa Island as a good location for a new lighthouse.However, plans for the light moved slowly. With the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, shipping between the American eastern seaboard and the Canal through theWindward Passagebetween Cuba and Haiti increased in the area of Navassa, which proved a hazard to navigation. Congress appropriated $125,000 in 1913 to build a lighthouse on Navassa,and in 1917 the Lighthouse Service built the 162-foot(49-meter)Navassa Island Lighton the island, 395 feet (120 meters)above sea level. At the same time, awireless telegraphystation was established on the island.A keeper and two assistants were assigned to live there until the Lighthouse Service installed an automatic beacon in 1929.
After absorbing the Lighthouse Service in 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard serviced the light twice yearly. The U.S. Navy set up an observation post for the duration of World War II. The island has been uninhabited since then. Fishermen, mainly from Haiti, fish the waters around Navassa.
As part of the Parish–Smithsonian Expedition to Haiti in 1930, Smithsonian naturalistsAlexander WetmoreandWaston Perrygostopped at Navassa to document and collect examples of the island's birds and other terrestrial and marine wildlife.
From 1917 to 1996, Navassa was under the administration of theUnited States Coast Guard. In 1996, the Coast Guard dismantled the light on Navassa, which ended its interest in the island. Consequently, theDepartment of the Interiorassumed responsibility for the civil administration of thearea, and placed the island under its Office of Insular Affairs.For statistical purposes, Navassa was grouped with the now-obsolete termUnited States Miscellaneous Caribbean Islandsand is now grouped with other islands claimed by the U.S. under the Guano Islands Act as theUnited States Minor Outlying Islands.
In 1997, an American salvager, Bill Warren, claimed Navassa to the Department of State based on theGuano Islands Act.On March 27, 1997, the Department of the Interior rejected the claim on the basis that the Guano Islands Act applies only to islands which, at the time of the claim, are not "appertaining to" the United States. The department's opinion said that Navassa is and remains a U.S. possession "appertaining to" the United States and is "unavailable to be claimed" under the Guano Islands Act.
A 1998 scientific expedition led by theCenter for Marine ConservationinWashington, D.C., described Navassa as "a unique preserve of Caribbean biodiversity."Aside from a few extinctions, the island's land and offshore ecosystems have mostly survived the 20th century.
In September 1999, theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Serviceestablished the Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses 1,344 acres (5.44 km) of land and a 12 nautical mile (22.2 km) radius of marine habitat around the island. Later that year, full administrative responsibility for Navassa was transferred from the Office of Insular Affairs to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
TheNational Wildlife Refugeprotects coral reef ecosystems, native wildlife, and plants and provides opportunities for scientific research on and around Navassa Island. Navassa Island features large seabird colonies, including over 5,000 nestingred-footed booby(Sula sula). Navassa is home to four endemic lizard species. Two other endemic lizards,Cyclura cornuta onchiopsisandLeiocephalus eremitus,are extinct.
Navassa Island NWR is administered as part of theCaribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Due to hazardous coastal conditions and to preserve species habitat, the refuge is closed to the general public, and visitors need permission from the Fish and Wildlife Service to enter its territorial waters or land.
After World War II, amateur radio operators occasionally visited to operate from the territory. Navassa is accorded "entity" (country) status by theAmerican Radio Relay League.Thecallsignprefixis KP1.
Since it became a National Wildlife Refuge,amateur radiooperators have repeatedly been denied entry.In October 2014, permission was granted for a two-weekDX-peditionin February 2015.The operation, designated K1N, made 138,409 contacts.
Navassa Island is about 2.1 square miles (5.4 km) in area. It is located 35 miles (56 km) west ofHaiti's southwest peninsula,103 miles (166 km) south of the U.S. naval base atGuantánamo Bay, Cuba, and about one-quarter of the way from mainland Haiti toJamaicain theJamaica Channel.
Navassa reaches an elevation of 250 feet (76 m) at Dunning Hill 110 yards (100 m) south of the lighthouse, Navassa Island Light.This location is 440 yards (400 m) from the southwestern coast or 655 yards (600 m) east of Lulu Bay.
The terrain of Navassa Island consists mostly of exposed coral and limestone, the island being ringed by vertical white cliffs 30 to 50 feet (9.1 to 15.2 m) high, but with enough grassland to support goat herds. The island is covered in a forest of four tree species: short-leaffig(Ficus populneavar.brevifolia), pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia), mastic (Sideroxylon foetidissimum), and poisonwood (Metopium brownei).
Navassa Island's topography, ecology, and modern history are similar to those ofMona Island, a small limestone island located in theMona PassagebetweenPuerto Ricoand theDominican Republic. These islands were once centers ofguanomining and are now nature reserves for the United States.
Transient Haitian fishermen and others camp on Navassa Island. Still, it is uninhabited.Navassa has no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorages, and its only natural resource is guano. Economic activity consists of subsistence fishing and commercial trawling activities.A 2009 survey of fishermen in southwestern Haiti estimated some 300 fishermen, primarily fromAnse d'Hainault Arrondissement, regularly fished near the island.
There were eight species of native reptiles, all of which are believed to be, or to have been,endemicto Navassa Island:Comptus badius(ananguid lizard),Aristelliger cochranae(agecko),Sphaerodactylus becki(a gecko),Anolis longiceps(ananole),Cyclura cornuta onchiopsis(an endemic subspecies of therhinoceros iguana),Leiocephalus eremitus(acurly-tailed lizard),Tropidophis bucculentus(adwarf boa), andTyphlops sulcatus(a tiny snake).Of these, the first four remain common, with the next three likelyextinct, and the last being possiblyextirpateddue to feralcats,dogsandpigsinhabiting the island.
In 2012,Acropora palmata(elkhorn coral), a common reef-building coral of the Caribbean, was located underwater near the island. The remaining coral was found to be in good condition.
The island, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognized as anImportant Bird Area(IBA) byBirdLife Internationalbecause it supports breedingcoloniesofred-footed boobiesandmagnificent frigatebirds, as well as hundreds ofwhite-crowned pigeons.
The dispute has prevented the definitive delimitation of the maritime zones between the United States and Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti, as well as determining the maritime frontier at the point of confluence between Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti.The island was disregarded for the purposes of determining equidistant boundary calculation withCubaduring the signing of theCuba–Haiti Maritime Boundary Agreementin 1977; Cuba backs Haiti's claim to the island.