Wilkes Island

Looking North-west over Wilkes Island, which has almost been split by the old, partially completed submarine channel.
The Tanager Expedition's tent camp on Wilkes Island in 1923
The SS North Haven unloads supplies for the Pan-American seaplane airport in the 1930s
Japanese landing on Wilkes in the battle for Wake Island
The Marine counter-attack to the landing

Wilkes Island is a small islet that is part of the Wake Island, a remote atoll in the Pacific. The island is cut in half by a partially completed WW2 submarine channel, and the eastern half is connected to Wake Island by a causeway. The western half is mostly trees and nature, except for mowed grassy area for seabirds, while the eastern half has facilities for the Wake island base. On the north side of Wilkes is the shallow lagoon of the atoll, and across to the north side is Peale Island and the northern hook of the main Wake island. The south side of Wilkes is coral beach with rocky coral fragments; the waves crash on the coral reef the rings the atoll, a short distance from the southern shore of Wilkes.


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