French Frigate Shoals airfield aerial photo

PBY-5A USCG at French Frigate Shoals 1953

Tern Island is a tiny coral island located in the French Frigate Shoals in the

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or Leeward Hawaiian Islands are a series of islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest (in some cases, far to the northwest) of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. Politically, they are all p ...

, at , approximately west north west of Oahu. It has a land area of . The island provides a breeding habitat to 18 species of seabirds, threatened Hawaiian

green sea turtles The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

, and endangered Hawaiian monk seals. It is maintained as a field station in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The island has an airstrip over the length of the island, built in 1942. This has supported use by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and wildlife services since that time, and various types of operations have been conducted from this location which is host to limited facilities for habitation. The US Fish & Wildlife service closed its field station on the island at the end of 2012. There was a Naval base from 1942 to 1946, a Coast Guard Base from 1952 to 1979, and finally a Fish & Wildlife station from 1979 to 2012.

History

Atoll research bulletin (1971) (19722865924)

The atoll is home to an airstrip created in 1942-3, and was later used by the Coast Guard. During WW2 nearly 130 people staffed the island, while the later wildlife station had between 5-15 staff on Tern. After the Battle of Midway in the summer of 1942, the U.S. Navy built a Naval Air Station on Tern Island, enlarging the island sufficiently to support a 3300 ft. (1005 m) landing strip. The station's main function was as an emergency landing site for planes flying between Hawaii and

Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

. The original seawall, runway, and some of the buildings remain. Construction on the island started in July 1942 and the facility was commissioned in March 1943 as a Naval Air Station. The base was meant to stop the Japanese using the atolls to attack mainland Hawaii, as had happened during Operation K. The island was increased from 11 acres to 34 acres, and there were parking spots for 22 aircraft. There was a 90 feet tall radar tower also and barracks for the island's crew. Air patrols were flown from Tern island to do reconnaissance in this region. The base had some defenses during WW2, including a battery of 90 mm guns, 3-inch guns, and also numerous .30 cal machine guns emplacements. Having survived the battle of Midway, the base on Tern island served as a stopping point for aircraft flying between Midway and the main Hawaiian islands, such as for refueling or emergency landings. One extraordinary emergency landing occurred in 1944, when a Curtis Commando with dozens of marines had an engine failure and was close to ditching in the ocean. The twin-engine transport plane was down to an altitude of less than 300 feet, despite having ditched as much weight as feasible when it managed to land on Tern island. The aircraft was able to land with one engine out, and there were no deaths. In 1945, Tern island hosted the USMC comedy show "All Fouled Up" when the entourage's R4D aircraft could not land at Midway due to fog. The show was performed at Tern island, and the group went on to Midway later. The show did a two month long tour at US Pacific bases. The naval base operated from 1942 to 1946, and a U.S. Coast Guard station operated from 1952 until 1979. In 1969, a tsunami wiped out much of the station, and it had to be repaired. In 1969, when the island was inundated with water, the crew was evacuated by helicopter by the ship HMNZS ''Waikato'', and taken to Midway. In 1946 two fisheries were established on Tern island, and they flew out fish to Honolulu on a DC-3 aircraft. From 1961 to 1983 there was also a missile tracking station on Tern island. Between 1986 and 1991 Tern Island was used to study the Green Turtle ( Chelonia mydas). A Piper Aztec has landed over 600 times at Tern Island. There are typically monthly flights to Honolulu for mail, and heavier cargo usually comes by water. An alternative is email, either by

satellite phone A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a sa ...

or the island's broadband internet connection. The old U.S. Coast Guard barracks continued to be used into the 21st century. Upgrades include the cleanup of old waste, improved water tanks, and solar power. The solar power runs a

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pre ...

water maker, capable of producing 1200 gallons a day. There is also a diesel generator with a 500-gallon fuel tank. In the summer of 2004, 1200 feet of seawall was repaired with a new design, and the old boat dock was replaced by boat ramp for small boats. However, thousands of feet of seawall were still in need of repair. A Fish and Wild Life field station was active at the island from 1979 to 2012. The closure came after a storm in December 2012, when several people evacuated from Tern island in advance of a severe storm. The storm damaged some of facilities on the island including the barracks. The US Fish & Wildlife service closed its field station on Tern island at the end of 2012. In 2013, the island was imaged for a Google Street View project, to allow the islands to be viewed online in a special viewer. Google and the US Government worked to make 5 islands of a National Pacific nature reserve viewable as part of this project. The other islands in the Pacific surveyed for the program included East Island (also in the French Frigate Shoals), Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, and Pearl and Hermes Atoll. The online viewer allows a series of panoramic images from head height to be viewed a course around the island. The path takes views along much of the length of the airstrip and along part of the shore. In 2013 the NOAA ship ''Oscar Sette'' visited the French Frigate Shoals, and tent field camp was setup on Tern island. The storm at the end of 2012 had left the existing barracks uninhabitable, and the water system also not usable. Water had to be brought to the island in jugs from boats on this expedition. The goods for the expedition were offloaded from small boats at the Tern island dock. In 2019, a full survey of green sea turtles on Tern island was conducted by biologists. 371 green sea turtles were found on the island. In 2020, the beach at Tern island was designated as environmentally polluted by plastic trash. This ruling came after years of research at the site, including 14.5 thousand kilograms of trash within 5000 meters of the beach over 11 years. Of this debris over 70 percent of the trash was plastic, which has become a point of concern on these Pacific islands. The nature of how debris from the sea accumulates on Tern island was studied in the 2010s. In 2020, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project removed tens of thousands of pounds/kg of debris from the French Frigate Shoals, including Tern island.

Birds

The use of Tern Island by birds has been studied. One concern is birds eating plastic trash, which was studied at Tern between 2006 an 2013. Tern Island is a popular place for researchers to study Pacific sea and shore birds. There are about sixteen (16) seabird species seen at Tern Island in the early 21st century. Some of the bird species found at Tern Island include: *

Sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

* White tern * Brown noddy * Black noddy * Masked booby *

Brown booby The brown booby (''Sula leucogaster'') is a large seabird of the booby family Sulidae, of which it is perhaps the most common and widespread species. It has a pantropical range, which overlaps with that of other booby species. The gregarious brow ...

Red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are f ...

* Wedge-tailed shearwater * Tristram's storm petrel * Black-footed albatross * Laysan albatross *

Great frigatebird The great frigatebird (''Fregata minor'') is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific (including the Galapagos Islands) and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South At ...

In 1998 and 1999, the black-footed albatross (''Phoebastria nigripes'') and Laysan albatross (''Phoebastria immutabilis'') were studied at Tern Island. The research recorded a particularly unsuccessful nesting season for the albatrosses. In 2010, a study of the area noted that other rare birds are sometimes seen at Tern, as well. Examples of birds occasionally but seldom seen at Tern Island include the short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') and

fork-tailed swift Fork-tailed swift is the historic name of a kind of bird which has since been divided taxonomically into four species. It could refer to any of four different species of swifts: *Pacific swift, ''Apus pacificus'' *Salim Ali's swift, ''Apus salimali ...

(''Apus pacificus''). Tern Island is popular with green sea turtles; in 1977 there were no nests on the island; twenty years later, this had apparently grown to around 700 nests. Some of the migratory

shorebirds 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

known to overwinter at Tern in the early 21st century include: * Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) * Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) * Sanderling (Calidris alba) *

Wandering tattler The wandering tattler (''Tringa incana''; formerly ''Heteroscelus incanus'': Pereira & Baker, 2005; Banks ''et al.'', 2006), is a medium-sized wading bird. It is similar in appearance to the closely related gray-tailed tattler, ''T. brevipes''. ...

(Heteroscelus incanus) * Bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitensis)

Seawall

During WW2 in response to the Japanese use of the atolls and to provide a link with Midway, the island was expanded to allow for a landing strip. The island was protected from the surf by 5000 feet of double steel pylon sea wall, with walls separated by 4 feet (over 1 meter) which was finished in 1943. The original WW2 sea wall is composed of over 5000 steel pilings. Maintenance on the wall was further conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard between 1952 to 1979. In 2000/1 the United States Congress approved 10 million USD to repair the island. In 2004, the Fish & Wild Life service did a 12 million dollar project to repair the seawall and some other maintenance on the island. This project repaired 1200 feet of seawall. The project was managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Geography

Some of the beaches on the island include: * Shell Beach & Crab Beach, on the north side of the island * East Beach * South Beach There is a small boat ramp since 2004, which replaced dock and boat hoist.

References

External links