Kure Atoll
The first attempt at settlement was in 1870, when the Pacific Mail Steamship Company started a project of blasting and dredging a ship channel through the reef to the lagoon using money put up by the United States Congress. The purpose was to establish a mid-ocean coaling station to avoid the high taxes imposed at ports controlled by the Kingdom of Hawaii. The project was a failure, and the evacuated the channel project's work force in October 1870. The ship ran aground 21 October at Kure Atoll, stranding 93 men. On 18 November 5 men set out in a small boat to seek help. On 19 December 4 of the men perished when the boat was upset in the breakers off of Kauai. The survivor reached the U.S. Consulate in Honolulu on Christmas Eve. Relief ships were despatched and reached Kure Atoll on 4 January 1871. The survivors of the Saginaw wreck reached Honolulu on 14 January 1871.