Fact of the Day: Pearl Harbor


Pearl Harbor was called Wai Momi ("pearl waters") by the Hawaiians because of the pearl oysters that once grew there. In 1840 Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy made the first geodetic survey and urged the dredging of the coral-bar entrance to the harbor. About 30 years later, Colonel John McAllister Schofield further recommended that the United States secure harbor rights. A subsequent treaty (1887) granted the United States the exclusive use of the harbor as a coaling and repair station; however, work was not begun until after 1898, when the Spanish-American War indicated its strategic value as a Pacific base. A naval station was established after 1908, and a drydock was completed in 1919.