The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-27
Life on the White Sands of Lonesome Midway Isle
How Cable Operators
Have Made the
Place LiVabIe.

Between HOO and 1900 miles from
Honolulu, a few miles to the southwark
of the usual course of the P. NJ. S. S.
Co s vessels between Honolulu and Yo,
kohama, lie the Midway Islands, or, as
they were originally named, Brooke s
Islands, after Lieut.. Brooke who was,
at the time of their discovery, in charge
of United States war vessel, survey
ing the reefs and shoals lying near the
steamer track between the Hawaiian
Islands and Yokohama.
The group consists of two principal |
islands and two or three banks, en-
circled by coral barrier about twenty |
one miles in circumference. Sand Is |
lana and Eastern Island being about |
five miles each in circumference, the |
banks only covering an area of an acre |
or two, sufficiently large, however, to
attract numerous sea birds to make
their homes there in Matching season.
On Eastern Island which has mod :
erately dense growth of coarse grass
and shrubs, these birds appear in hun,
dreds of thousands, making their ar,
rival usually in November and leaving
IN March. though few stragglers may
be seen for several weeks later. The
permanent (and growing) population of
Eastern Island consists of a colony of
donkeys numbering six, the original
pair, which were brought to Sand Is
land about four years ago and were
later deported to Eastern Island and
their descendants Sea birds are com,
paratively scarce on Sand Island owing
to the lack of cover and perhaps also,
to the presence of human beings there.
A Place of Wrecks.
Midway has been the scene of many
wrecks and maritime mishaps, chief of
which was, of course, the stranding of
the P. NJ. S. S. Mongolia.
Residents of Honolulu will long re,
member that September afternoon in
1906 when, as the Manchuria was be,
ing towed from what nearly proved her
last resting place at Waimanalo, to Ho-
nolulu, the news was flashed over the
cable that her sister vessel was aground
at Midway, hard and fast ON the reef.
Those were stirring days for the people
at the cable station and they faced the
situation bravely, giving up their quar-
tiers to the passengers, who were all
sent ashore as soon as it became evil
dent that some days would elapse and :
a lot of hard work be necessary before .
the big vessel could be moved into deep .
water again. Their satisfaction with .
the treatment accorded them, during
their stay of nearly two weeks, is evil
denced by a fine silver cup, suitably
inscribed regarding the hospitality of
the cable company's employees and
which now adorns the center of their :
dining table. OF total wrecks there &:
have been several. The Wandering .
Minstrel with Capt. Walker and his .
family, now resident in Honolulu, was .
thrown on the reef inside the lagoon. .
during a heavy gale but no lives were .
lost in the wreck. After sixteen months
of emi-starvation and exposure, the
captain and his family were found and
relieved from their unfortunate posi- :
tion, none too soon, as the unchanging a.:
diet of birds eggs and fish had begun
to make its mark on them. .
In recent years two wrecks have Oc- .
eurred-the Julia Whalen, laden with .
mail and supplies for the station, and
the Carrolton. with coal from Australia,
both total losses. but all lives saved
The Gable Office.
The operating office and other quar-
tiers of the Commercial Pacific Cable
Co., are situated on Sand Island and :
consist of substantially built reinforc-
ed concrete buildings. The station is
purely relay station, passing messages
each way on the line, and is link in :
the submarine cable system extending :
from San Francisco to Shanghai via
Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila.
messages from all parts :
of the Orient for all parts of the Uni =
ted States. and vice versa, pass under
the hands of the operator on the lonely :.
isle in midpacifc A message to some :.
American business house in Manila or :,
Shanghai NAV be followed by one to =
some person with a queer Indian name ~
in an outlandish corner of North West
arn India to he succeeded by another
in undeeipherable code from, maybe,
the japanese Legation at Washington !
to their State Department at Toxic =
The cable can talk in any language that b
ian be spelt with letters. G
Housing the Exiles. ST
For about eighteen months after the o.
installing of the cable service the ope-- f,
lting staff and instruments were housed Fl
n wooden buildings, pending the ar j,
-ival of material and men for the cree, p
ion of the fine quarters they now Oc- k
,upv There are now four fac main a
of reinforced c1lerete. Oper- y
lting room. superintendent : Office and W
battery room occupy one building. Su. 81
,erintendent's living quarters take an ST
,ther: the balance of the staff live in el
he third and the fourth contains dim Fl,
no hall. billiard room, library and II
,itehen on the upper, and laundry, cold OF
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