Maritime History

Kure Atoll

Kure Atoll (; Hawaiian: Hōlanikū, lit. 'bringing forth heaven'; Mokupāpapa, 'flat island') or Ocean Island is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean 48 nautical miles (89 km; 55 mi) west-northwest of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at 28°25′N 178°20′W. A coral ring 6 miles (9.7 km) across encloses a lagoon several meters deep. The atoll's largest island is called Green Island, and is a habitat for hundreds of thousands of seabirds in the present day and wildlife staff. A short, unused, and unmaintained runway and a portion of one building, both from a former United States Coast Guard LORAN station, are located on the island. Politically, it is part of Hawaii, though the nearest island is Midway, which is a separate unorganized territory. Kure Atoll, in addition to being the nesting grounds for tens of thousands of seabirds, has recorded several vagrant terrestrial birds, including snow bunting, eyebrowed thrush, brambling, olive-backed pipit, black kite, Steller's sea eagle and Chinese sparrowhawk. It is currently managed as a Wildlife Bird Sanctuary by the State of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resource—Division of Forestry and Wildlife as one of the co-trustees of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument with support from the Kure Atoll Conservancy. Kure is one of the westernmost islands of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Kure is seasonally inhabited by small crews of two to eight volunteers and biologists who work to restore and manage the native ecosystem. Kure was discovered in the early 19th century and was the site of several shipwrecks. In the early 20th century it became a bird nature reserve of the United States. In the late 20th century, it was home to a radio base that supported location finding (LORAN system before GPS), and in the 21st century it is mostly a nature reserve and for scientific research. Kure, or sometimes written Cure, used to be called Ocean Island up until 1924 when it was renamed; in 1987 this changed to Kure Atoll (atoll rather than island). There are also several native Hawaiian names; some depend on context. Moku Papapa is the generic name for a flat island like this atoll but became more associated with it, and another one is Hōlanikū. There are no more islands to the west until Japan.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Chesil Beach
• ▸Devonport, Tasmania
• ▸Blackwall frigate

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.