Mili Atoll - History

History

In 1823 the whaleship Globe, out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was brought to Mili Atoll by her mutinous crew. After killing the ship's captain and its three officers, Samuel B. Comstock “Bloody Sam” sailed the ship here. A few days after anchoring, Comstock was murdered by his co-mutineer Silas Payne. Six of the crew fled in the ship and stranded nine men on the island. By the time the U.S. Schooner Dolphin, commanded by Lieut. Com. John Percival, arrived to rescue them two years later, all but two of the crew members had been killed by the islanders.

The infamous blackbirder Bully Hayes owned Tokowa Islet on Mile during the late 19th century and used it as a base for his operations. Mili Atoll was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884. The Germans established a trading station and in 1870 a Christian church. After World War I, the island came under the South Pacific Mandate of the Empire of Japan. Mili housed a radio direction finding and weather station. In World War II the atoll was occupied by the Japanese. The garrison was composed of 2,045 men of the IJN and 2,237 men of the IJA. In 1942 a seaplane base was developed. Between late 1942 and late 1943, the Japanese also constructed a land airfield with three runways (4750', 4550' + 4400'), and numerous support buildings, including a radar station. The perimeter of the island was fortified with coastal defense and anti-aircraft guns. Between mid-1943 and Aug. 1945, Mili was bombed by United States Navy carrier-based aircraft and shelled by warships. The attacks increased in frequency and severity after Majuro and Kwajalein had fallen to the United States. Of the 5100 man Japanese garrison (2600 Imperial Japanese Navy and 2500 Imperial Japanese Army) only half survived to the end of the war.

Following the end of World War II, Mili Atoll came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The island has been part of the independent Republic of the Marshall Islands since 1986.

Mili remains littered with thousands of World War II relics. The law forbids these items from being removed from the island. Mostly what remains are large bunker systems, rail systems, old artillery pieces and remnants of aircraft. Examples includes Japanese Zeroes and a B-25 Mitchell bomber sitting in just several feet of water. The ground is still covered with craters created by the artillery campaigns that lasted 30 days to "prep" the island for the Allied invasion.