Bombay Reef (, vi, đá Bông Bay) is an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

of the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

. In Chinese, the reef is alternatively known as "Pengbojiao" (), or "Qilianyu" (literally "7 key lago") along with six other islands close by.

Geography

The

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national ...

's '' Sailing Directions'' describes Bombay Reef as "the southeasternmost known danger of the Paracel Islands, a steep-to reef 10 miles long E and W that surrounds a rock-strewn lagoon." A lighthouse is located on the south-west end of the reef. It was built by the French in 1980. BombayReef

History

In the early hours of 20 December 1946, en route from Hong Kong to Singapore for

decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to: Infrastructure * Decommissioned offshore * Decommissioned highway * Greenfield status of former industrial sites * Nuclear decommi ...

, HMS ''Aire''

ran aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

on Bombay Reef. She was spotted by chance, three days later, by the passing and the 85 crew, amongst them the ship's dog, were rescued with no serious casualties. As a , HMS ''Aire'' was

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

to the famous

superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

. In early May 1967 the steel sailing schooner ''Dante Deo'', with six men and a six-year-old boy on board, was wrecked on Bombay Reef. The crew were rescued on 5 May 1967 by an

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

operated by the 37th Air Rescue Squadron. Bombay Reef is the site of numerous other

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

s, at least one of which is visible above water and on

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

from 15 miles away.

Territorial claims

Lacking a native population, ownership of the Paracel Islands has been disputed since the early 20th century. In the aftermath of the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

until 1974 Vietnam occupied Pattle Island, approximately away. Control has been enforced by the People's Republic of China since the

Battle of the Paracel Islands The Battle of the Paracel Islands (Chinese: 西沙海战, Pinyin: Xisha Haizhan；Vietnamese: Hải chiến Hoàng Sa) was a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam in the Paracel Islands on January 19, 1974. The ...

. Bombay Reef is administered and governed by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and patrolled by the Chinese border police.

Notes and references

Baselines of the Chinese territorial sea Paracel Islands Reefs of China {{PRChina-geo-stub

Geography

History

Territorial claims

See also

Notes and references