The Hermit Islands are a group of 17The Wuvulu Web Site - Geographical Names in the Western Islands
/ref> islands within the Western Islands of the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Their coordinates are .

History

The first sighting by Europeans of Hermit islands was by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on 29 July 1545 when on board of the

carrack A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...

''San Juan'' tried to return from

Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

. He charted them as ''La Caimana'' (a female

caiman A caiman (also cayman as a variant spelling) is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. Caimans inhabit Mexico, Central and South America f ...

in Spanish). When passing by, Ortiz de Retes reported that some negroes got near the ship who flung arrows by hand without bows, that were made of flint suitable for striking fire.Sharp, Andrew ''The discovery of the Pacific Islands'' Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960, p.31. These islands belong to

Micronesian outliers Micronesian outliers are some islands near New Guinea inhabited by Micronesian settlers. All of the Micronesian outliers are in the Bismarck Sea and belong to Papua New Guinea. These islands are also known under the name Western Islands The Micr ...

World War II

On 17 June 1944, after returning from a bombing mission, 11 aircrew were bailed out from the B-24 Liberator ''Dropsnoot'' over the Hermit Islands and landed in rough seas approximately two miles from the southeast of Jalun Island. Four were perished in the drowning, while the other seven were aided by natives for caring until being rescued.

References

Bismarck Archipelago Archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea Manus Province {{ManusProvince-geo-stub