Where is Tern Island?

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

The cover in Figure 1 was sent from Tern Island, and the cover in Figure 2 is from there. According to the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, it is “a tiny coral island located in the French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.”

Undoubtedly mail from the island is sought after by topical collectors interested in birds, but such mail is difficult to come by.

The first examples I have seen were in a dealer’s stock at a recent show. The price was reasonable, so I am glad to show them here.

The cover in Figure 1 was canceled on June 24, 1949, in Honolulu. The reason it was canceled there is that Tern Island had no post office, and mail had to be sent from the United States government entities stationed on the island to Honolulu to be entered into the mails.

This cover is from one of 40 civilian and military staff at the Coast Guard Long Range Navigation (LORAN) Station on Tern. That raises a question because the Wikipedia entry, and other information found online, tell me that there was a Naval Air Station from 1942 to 1946 and a Coast Guard base from 1952 to 1979. Yet this cover is dated 1949.

The Figure 2 cover, sent from Australia to a Coast Guard staffer at the LORAN Station in 1965, was rejected as not having the proper Fleet Post Office (FPO) ZIP number.

It seems to me the postal handlers could have stretched a point and sent it to Tern despite the lack of a ZIP code. But, there are always those who find it easier to apply the rule book when discretion and initiative might be more appropriate.

Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: 

    Sign up for our newsletter
    Like us on Facebook
    Follow us on Twitter