The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-04-07
Midway Islands.

we PRINT, from the washington Dditl
GLOBE, Of Feb, 1869, for the information Of
our readers who are interested in the progress
of steam communication in the Pacific Ocean,
the discussion held in the Senate with regard
TO an amendment in the report of the Com
mittee on Naval Affairs, part of which was
published in q former issue of our paper.
Mr.. Nye | am instructed by the Com.
mittee on Naval Affairs to offer, in accord
ance with the notice gave day or two ago,
the following amendment:
For improving the mouth OF the harbor at
the Midway Islands, in the Pacific Ocean,
$4,000.
| / should like to have the report of the
Committee on Naval Affairs on this subject
read
The Chief Clerk then read the report.
Mr.. Nye. | see that there is a mistake of
| thousand miles in the distance stated in
the report.
Mr. Morrill,, Of Maine. / desire to call the
attention of the Senate TO the character of
this proposition. thought at first that per-
haps it ought TO go TO the Committee on
| Commerce, having charge of the river and
harbor bill; but it is obvious enough that |
was mistaken about that, because this is not
harbor belonging to the United States. 1t
occurs TO me that there may be another
] question which the Senate ought to be APP
| prised Of This is an appropriation of $50
600 to improve a harbor midway between
this country and China and Japan. VIII the
I Senator from Nevada who offers the amend
! ment tell US whose island that is
Mr.. Nye. Yes sir The island was dis
| covered about three years ago by an Ameri-
can citizen by the name of Brooks and taken
! possession of in the name of the United
! States and by hosting the flag OF the United
States Since that time II hos haau fprnnalIx
taken possession of by Commodore Thatcher,
acting under the orders of the Government.
| It is the first island ever taken possession of
by the United States since it was Govern
ment.
Mr. Morrill,, of Maine But there is no in
formation before the Senate in the cOmmuni-
cation which has been read that it belongs
TO the Government ofthe United States. |
do not raise that question If the honorable
Senator understands that 10 be the fact, that
the Government has taken formal possession
oft and there is no adverse claim.
Mr. Nye. None whatever, as the papers
show
Mr. Morrill,, of Maine Then l suggest to
the Senate and to the honorable Senator
that il is not customary to make appropria-
lions for the improvement OF rivers and har-
bors upon an estimate previously made. As
this communication suggests that il is i'm
possible even to make an approximate esti-
mate ofthe expenditures necessary to make
the contemplated Improvement l submit
whether it is not advisable upon the whole
to have q preliminary survey antecedent to
the appropriation, whether it is safe to make
this appropriation of $4,000 with any other
view at least than to require such prelimin-
airy survey. 1t may turn out on survey
and examination by experts that it is not ad-
visable to make any appropriation at ALL
Mr.. Nye. Mr.. President, l regret very
much that the documents upon which this
appropriation is asked have not returned
from the printer. They are full of interest,
and to me very instructive.
This island was discovered by Captain
Brooks and the discovery being made known
to the Government, the Navy Department at
once ordered one or two men of war to 90
and ascertain the whereabouts and the ex-
act position of things at that Island. The
LdckGUdnRd was one of the ships sent on
that expedition. There is in the papers
full description of the surveys they made.
have lying before me the maps that show
their exact locality and exhibit at once the
attitude which these islands present-that
preliminary survey which the honorable Sen
ator suggests has been made, but not with
that particularly upon which an exact es-
innate could be made of the cost of the work.
The officers who made the soundings, how
ever, report that they find that the mouth of
this harbor is ola broken coral intermixed
with sand, which can easily be removed by
dredging-machine. The papers to which |
have referred give the cost of the dredging
machine, the cost of operating it per day,
and the probable cost of getting it there
The officers ask for an appropriation of $780, |
600; but the committee deemed it prudent
to recommend an appropriation of 50,000
to be expended under the direction of the |
Navy Department, or so much thereof as may
be necessary to remove the obstacles, or if |
that is not done, to ascertain exactly what |
il will cost.
The importance of immediate action upon |
this subject perhaps cannot be overestimat- |
ed. 1t is long, weary passage of six thou |
sand miles and more from the Pacific coast to |
China and Japan. Heretofore, upon that
long and somewhat dangerous passage, |
where the typhoons play the mischief with |
shipping, there has not been a resting place |
nor harbor of refuge in the whole distance |
crippled ship must remain crippled, per |
fectly at the mercy of winds and waves, for /
that long distance, unless she can reach Hon.
olulu-twelve hundred miles southeast of |
this, | thinker she must wait the chances
of being picked up
1t is perhaps proper for me to say that the
pathway of these ocean steamers is entirely
out of the direction in which most of the
sailing crafts go. They 90 that way when
they are going down from the north to win
ter at Honolulu. Our whalemen, who are
now whaling in the northern seas of the Pa
cific, have to 90 to Honolulu every year to
winter. But If this improvement is made
they can winter at these islands, where there
is plenty of fresh water and save some
twenty-four hundred miles of somewhat
dangerous navigation.
| remarked to the honorable Senator that
this was the first island that had ever been
taken possession of by this Government
Right here under our very noses, within 200
miles of our coast, is a series ofisIands which
have cost this nation more than ii would
have done to purchase them, by furnishing
harbors to piratical crafts and the depreda-
tons they were enabled to commit upon us
during the late struggle.
| desire also to call the attention of the
Senate to the fact that the Pacific ocean is
fast becoming the great commercial thorough
fare of the world. 1t is growing in import
ance every day; and these islands seem to
have been prOYidentially thrown up in the
mid-ocean and the coral reefs formed on
purpose to give resting place for the weari-
ed sailor in distress. 1t will be remember
ed by the Senate that the rebel steamer Flo
Tidd found her way into the Pacific ocean
and committed series of depredations en-
tirely destructive 10 the great whaling in
terests of the East and of the West-a series
of depredatioDs that were seriously offensive
in every way. If the harbor at one of these
islands. taken possession ofas they have been
by the Uniled States can be made available.
as all the reports from scientific naval men
say that it can, then VIC have the KEY to the
navigation of the Pacific, and no marauders
can rest there. u ne 90 tacelge hundred miles
south TO Honolulu re are under flag that is
unable to protect aus, and zoe are prohibited 6y
lar from protecting ourselves iCithin certain
limits OF It's territory. l think, therefore, it
will be the sense of the Senate that this is
an opportune discovery, and that this is an
opportune moment for us to do so much, at
least, as to show that we are going to make