Minerve Reef

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Recif de la Minerve
(Ebrill Reef)
Waters Pacific Ocean
archipelago Tuamotu Archipelago
Geographical location 22 ° 40 ′  S , 133 ° 30 ′  W Coordinates: 22 ° 40 ′  S , 133 ° 30 ′  W
Minerve Reef (French Polynesia)
Minerve Reef
Number of islands 0
Main island ---
Land area 0 ha
Lagoon area 240 km²
Residents uninhabited
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / HoeheFehlt

The Minerve Reef ( French Recif de la Minerve ), other name Ebrill Reef , old name Bertero Island , is an underwater coral reef in the Southeast Pacific , which is geographically part of the Tuamotu Archipelago . Politically, the sea area belongs to French Polynesia . The Minerve Reef should not be confused with the Minerva Reefs , which are part of the Kingdom of Tonga .

On modern maps the position is given as 22 ° 40 'south latitude and 133 ° 30' west longitude. The distance to the next inhabited island, Mangareva to the southwest , is around 150 km. The reef is 14 m below sea level and extends for around 50 km in an east-west direction. Only in east-northeast does a flooded rock protrude a little above the water surface.

The Minerve Reef was discovered on March 1, 1829 by the Belgian merchant, adventurer, diplomat and travel writer Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout on his first Pacific voyage with the schooner Volador . He named it "Bertero Island" after the Italian doctor and botanist Carlo Bertero (1789–1831), with whom he was friends.

Moerenhout considered the visible part of the formation to be the offshore coral reef of an atoll or an island and wrote:

“On March 1, 1829, three days after leaving Pitcairn , we saw an island that we believed to be 'Lord Hood' [Marutea Sud]. The sight of them made a great impression on me, but soon we realized our mistake. The appearance of the island that we saw was really terrible. The sea rolled over it in terrible breakers that grew bigger when they hit the land mass, and then they broke on the reef with a force that turned everything into spray, as thick as snowflakes were falling from the sky. It seemed like everything was going to evaporate. To understand this spectacle, you have to experience it yourself. I have never seen anything like it in these waters before and I believe that even the captain, accustomed to assessing such dangers, would not dare to steer near without the greatest need. The island lies at 22 ° S. lat. And 153 ° 50 ′ W. long. It is obviously a new discovery. I named it "Bertero Island" in memory of a famous botanist who died on the return trip after accompanying me to Tahiti. "

- Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout

On the way from the South American coast to Tahiti , the British research vessel HMS Alert tried to find the Minerve Reef in July 1880, which according to the nautical charts of the time was supposed to be about 60 nautical miles (111 km) northeast of Mangareva . Although Captain Sir George Nares , as he states, "spent a lot of time searching," he was unable to find the rocks.

The formation was named "Ebrill Reef" from the British sandalwood and pearl trader Thomas Ebrill , who in 1833 rediscovered several islands in the Tuamotu Archipelago.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Sailing directions Pacific Islands , Bathesda (MD) 2010, p. 12
  2. ↑ Arthur R. Borden: Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean , Lanham (MD) 1993 (English translation by Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout: Voyages aux îles du Grand Océan ), p. 77
  3. ^ Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean during the voyage of HMS 'Alert' 1881-2 , London 1884
  4. ^ John Dunmore: Who´s who in Pacific Navigation , Honolulu 1991, p. 95

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