Second Thomas Shoal, also known as Ayungin Shoal ( fil, Kulumpol ng Ayungin, lit=Cluster of he silver perch; vi, Bãi Cỏ Mây; and Mandarin ), is a

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

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 gro ...

in the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

, west of

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Claimed by several nations, the shoal is currently militarily occupied by the

History

The shoal is one of three named after Thomas Gilbert, captain of the : *

First Thomas Shoal First Thomas Shoal, also known as Bulig Shoal in the Philippines, Bãi Suối Ngà in Vietnam, and 信义礁 in China, is an uninhabited reef/atoll located south of Second Thomas Shoal Second Thomas Shoal, also known as Ayungin Shoal ( fi ...

– (South of Second Thomas Shoal)NGA Chart 93046
- SE Dangerous Ground * Second Thomas Shoal – (Southeast of Mischief Reef) *

Third Thomas Shoal Third Thomas Shoal, known as Banko Thomas in the Philippines, Bãi Đồng Cam in Vietnam, and 和平暗沙 in China, is a reef in the north-west of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It is located north of Flat island, and north ...

– (Northeast of Flat Island - some distance N of Second Thomas Shoal)NGA Chart 93045
- NE Dangerous Ground

Geographical location

Located south-east of Mischief Reef (), Second Thomas Shoal is near the centre of Dangerous Ground in the north-eastern part of the Spratly Islands; there are no settlements north or east of it. It is a tear-drop shaped

, long north–south and fringed with coral reefs. The coral rim surrounds a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

which has depths of up to and is accessible to small boats from the East. Drying patches are found east and west of the reef rim.

Geographical features

On 12 July 2016, the tribunal of the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that a ...

concluded that Second Thomas Shoal is, or in its natural condition was, exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide and, accordingly, has low-tide elevations that do not generate an entitlement to a territorial sea, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. p.174

Territorial claims

Second Thomas Shoal is claimed by the

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The Philippine navy maintains a presence of less than a dozen navy personnel on the long

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

US-built

Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an ...

landing craft BRP ''Sierre Madre'' (LT-57), which was deliberately run aground at the shoal in 1999 in response to the Chinese reclamation of Mischief Reef. The Philippines claims that the shoal is part of its

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

, while parts of the

Spratly The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

group of islands, where Second Thomas Shoal lies, are

claimed "Claimed" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series '' The Walking Dead'', which aired on AMC on February 23, 2014. The episode was written by Nichole Beattie and Seth Hoffman, and directed ...

by China,

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

, the Philippines,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. In 2014, the Chinese government asked the Philippines to remove the grounded ship. Philippine supply ships subsequently avoided Chinese blockades in order to deliver food, water and other supplies to the garrison. PRC coast guard vessels blocked two attempts by Philippine ships to resupply the garrison on March 9, 2014. Supplies were

airdrop An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible tr ...

ped to the garrison three days later. A supply ship with replacement troops successfully reached the shoal on March 29, 2014 by sailing through shallow waters where the PRC vessels (with deeper

drafts Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

) were unable to follow. During the approach, Philippine crew members and troops on the resupply ship waved the

peace sign A number of peace symbols have been used many ways in various cultures and contexts. The dove and olive branch was used symbolically by early Christians and then eventually became a secular peace symbol, popularized by a ''Dove'' lithograph ...

at the pursuing Chinese coast guard crew. Since then, the Philippine military has been sending monthly relief missions in the form of air dropped provisions to the troops stationed here. In November 2021, Chinese Coast Guard vessels used water cannons and blocked two Philippine supply boats, preventing the boats from delivering essential supplies to the Philippine marine forces stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre.

Alternate names

The Singapore National University Gazetteer (Number 75967), and the US NGA Gazetteer list the following as other names for the Second Thomas Shoal: *

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

- Ren'ai Jiao * Other Chinese names - Jen-ai An-sha, Jen-ai Chiao, Jên-ai Chiao, Ren'ai Ansha, 仁愛暗沙, 仁爱礁, 断节 * Vietnamese - Bãi Cỏ Mây * Filipino - Ayungin *

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

- Banc Thomas Deuxième * Other English names - Thomas Shoal Second * Other names - Duanjie

References

External links

Maritime Transparency Initiative Island Tracker
{{South China Sea Shoals of the Spratly Islands Territorial disputes of China Territorial disputes of the Republic of China Territorial disputes of the Philippines Disputed territories in Southeast Asia Kalayaan, Palawan