Map of the Swan Island Caribbean Sea [with Report]

“A necessity if the Nicaragua Canal is constructed.”

This fascinating report was compiled by the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee for Commerce, James McMillan, and originally published in 1897 as part of a Congressional volume. The contents outline the strategic commercial and military value of the Swan Islands off the coast of Honduras. The trio of islands was first discovered by Columbus in 1502, but weren’t occupied until Americans arrived to mine guano deposits during the 1840s. This presence had lapsed by the time of publication, and the Committee for Commerce recommended the construction of a lighthouse to confirm U.S. territorial claims, especially regarding ongoing conversations about the possibility of a Transoceanic Canal in nearby Nicaragua.

The report is accompanied by two folding maps. One is a rough sketch of the Swan Islands as sketched by U.S. Navy Lieutenant George T. Sinclair in 1858 aboard the Harry Maybee. The second is a reprint of a contemporary nautical chart showing that particular area in the Gulf of Mexico. Red overprinting plants a small American flag firmly on Swan Island.

Source: U.S. State Department