Kingman Reef
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The Kingman Reef (English Kingman Reef, [ kɪŋmən ] ) is a coral reef in the North Pacific and heard as nichtinkorporiertes territory ( outside area ) to the United States. It is located about 61 km northwest of Palmyra and about 1713 km southwest of Honolulu. Geographically, it belongs to the northern Line Islands.
History
The American captain Edmund Fanning discovered Kingman Reef on June 14 in 1798 with his brig Betsy. In his book " Voyages and Travels " he recounted how his ship would be accrued and almost got stuck on the reef, if he does not feel the danger, and it would have stopped in time. The reef he described as follows:
Coral reef or sand bank, in the form of a crescent, six mile stretch from north to south; under his lee, and within the area in Crescent, appear to be flat and untiefes water. We have no feet of earth, rock or sand discovered over the water, where perhaps a boat could be pulled ashore.
On some charts, it was then noted as Danger Skirt ( German " dangerous rock ").
The name was inspired by the naval officer reef WE Kingman, of the Shooting Star abstattete him on November 29, 1853 a visit. About the discovery he reported in September 1855 in the Honoluluer newspaper "The Friend". He also pointed to the significant threat that would pose the reef especially in light winds and calm seas at night, since one can recognize breaker only if the ship had already come dangerously close to the reef.
Under the name Danger it was one of the islands which were claimed in 1856 by the Americans, citing the Guano Islands Act.
The U.S. annexed it on May 10, 1922, twelve years later gave him the status of a marine reserve. Its sheltered lagoon served the airline Pan Am 1937/1938 as a stopover for Boeing 314 flying boats between Hawaii and American Samoa. Due to its particularly diverse marine flora and fauna - according to ecologists, it houses 168 different species of fish and 102 coral species - it was declared a nature reserve in 2001 Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge.
Geography and climate
The Kingman Reef lies mostly under water, under favorable conditions be 10,000 m² ( 0.01 km ²) of dry land visible, the coast line can be up to 3 km. The total area within the Riffkranzes, which is in the west constantly flooded, is 60 km ². Due to the small land area, and the frequent flooding of the triangular-shaped coral reef exists neither a country nor vegetation can find natural resources, the soil is completely barren. The highest point is located east one meter above sea level. It has a tropical climate, which is influenced significantly by the prevailing winds.
The reef in October 2003
Management
From the U.S., the Kingman Reef is counted among the so-called United States Minor Outlying Islands. For any administrative tasks, the United States Navy is responsible, the duties from Washington, DC perceives from. The public will, unless special permission is granted, not granted access to the reef. A visit would be either a flying boat lands in the deep inner lagoon, or a ship, which applies to the coastal anchorage, possible.