One of the conspiracy bloggers pointed out that the December, 1928 photo in my original post showing the dock was marked “Facing 32°”, which would make this a different dock than the one in the infamous photo. He found the remains of what he calls a “German dock” down near the current airport that this could be. Fortunately, I found a few sources that rule out his dock.
First, this dock is called the Sydney Pier on the WWII Jaluit Atoll map attached. Today, its remains are submerged, just North of runway 03 at Jaluit Airport. It was photographed soon after the war (
https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_htms/2918.html), and there is even a youtube video of local children freediving around the dock at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKfIxspve8.
If this was the Sydney dock, and the photographer was facing 32°, you would see almost the entirety of Jabor town in the background, only three-quarters of a mile away, but there is noting but water. I can’t really speak to why Archives has the photo marked as Facing 32°. It’s entirely possible that the photographer’s notes said 320, which would line up perfectly with the Jabor harbor pier, the seawall in the foreground, the trees on the far right, and the lack of land (Jabor) in the background. As a navigator, I would always write out the full heading, such as 032 or 320, so this may be a misread of 32° vs 320.
Jabor Pier (WWII-era pier on current site of the modern pier and all previous piers since 1886):
https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_jpg/291805.jpgSydney Pier (WWII-era Japanese pier near airport):
https://libweb.hawaii.edu//digicoll/ttp/ttp_jpg/291802.jpgWith this in mind, I still feel that the dock in the 1928 photo IS the same as the one featured in the History Channel mockumentary, a coral and sand jetty, with a small wooden dock at the end, which debunks the anonymous letter from the Government of the Marshall Islands.
Attachments don't seem to work today.