engineer, landed from the Taney, at 9 a.m., March 7, 1938, and set tap 
their camp alongside the British. This had followed an administrative 
order, signed March 3 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, placing 
Canton and Enderbury under jurisdiction of the Department of the In- 
It was a friendly and bloodless invasion, each party sharing the other s 
hospitality. They knew that the settlement lay in Washington and Lon¬ 
don. This was finally reached in April, 1939, Canton and Enderbury be¬ 
ing placed under joint British and American control for 50 years, and 
“thereafter until such time as it may be modified or terminated by mu¬ 
tual consent.” Air companies of both nations have equal rights to such 
facilities as the islands may afford. 
During 1938 and 1939 Pan American Airways laid out and developed 
an extensive airport, deepened and cleared the lagoon, and initiated flights 
to New Zealand using Canton as one of the ports of call. An insect 
“filter” has been established on the islands, to guard Hawaii and Cali¬ 
fornia against the importation by clipper planes of insect pests and plant 
diseases from the antipodes. 
CHAPTER 15 
Seep A 
coconuts 
Hound 
Grove o. 
Tournefortia 1 ^ 
/V ;Y<“ r 
Lagoon Cq! 
Guano *V 
. 
diggings J 
ou. trees * 
'oumefortia 
fatrees 
Enderbury Island 
17f 03'W 
:nderbur 
i SLAM D 
Based on HO. 125, 
additions by E.H. Bryan. Jr. 
Sandy beach. 
** Sandstone slab 
and coral beach. 
Stone 
Fringing reef. 
•“tight! 
Landing^.* Camp 
Coconuts 
2 nautical 
miles. 
Enderbury Island lies 37 nautical miles E.S.E. of Canton and 186 
miles south of the equator. In contrast to Canton Island, which is largely 
lagoon, Enderbury is nearly solid land, with the lagoon reduced to a 
