Kingman Reef
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Kingman Reef () is a largely submerged, uninhabited, triangle-shaped
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
, geologically an
atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
, east-west and north-south, in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
and
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
. It has an area of 3
hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...
(0.03 km2; 7.4
acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
s) and is an unincorporated territory of the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in
Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
. The reef is administered by the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...
as the Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge. It was claimed by the US in 1859 and later used briefly as a stopover for commercial Pacific flying boat routes in the 1930s going to New Zealand; however, the route was changed with a different stopover. It was administered by the Navy from 1934 to 2000 and thereafter by the Fish and Wildlife Service. It has since become a marine protected area. In the 19th century, it was noted as a maritime hazard, earning the name Hazard Rocks, and is known to have been hit once in 1876. In the 21st century, it has been noted for its marine biodiversity and remote nature. Hundreds of fish and coral species are on and around the reef.


History

Kingman Reef was discovered on June 14, 1798, by the American captain Edmund Fanning of the ship ''Betsey''. It was first described by Captain W. E. Kingman (whose name the island bears) of the ship ''Shooting Star'' on November 29, 1853. It was claimed in 1859 by the United States Guano Company, under the name "Dangers Rock," along with several other islands. The claim was made under the U.S. Guano Islands Act of 1856, although there is no evidence that guano existed or was ever mined on Kingman Reef. The British steamship ''Tarta'' struck the reef in June 1874, and it was later surveyed by in 1897, establishing that Kingman Reef was the same hazard previously charted as Caldew Reef and Maria Shoal, among other names. On May 10, 1922, Lorrin A. Thurston became the first person to raise the American flag on the atoll and read an annexation proclamation.Rauzon, Mark J. (2016). ''Isles of Amnesia: The History, Geography, and Restoration of America's Forgotten Pacific Islands''. University of Hawai'i Press, Latitude 20. Page 106. . The Palmyra Copra Co. intended to use Kingman as a fishing base, as demand for copra had declined after World War I and Palmyra Island lacked a suitable anchorage. Thurston formally claimed Kingman for the United States by reading the following declaration while standing on its shore:
Be it known to all people: That on the tenth of May, A.D. 1922, the undersigned agent of the Island of Palmyra Copra Co., Ltd., landed from the motorship Palmyra doth, on this tenth day of May, A.D. 1922, take formal possession of this island, called Kingman Reef, situated in longitude 162 degrees 18' west and 6 degrees 23' north, on behalf of the United States of America and claim the same for said company.
A copy of the declaration, along with a U.S. flag and clippings from '' The Honolulu Advertiser'' newspaper, were left on Kingman to document the claim. On December 29, 1934, the U.S. Navy assumed jurisdiction over Kingman Reef. In 1935, the reef was visited by William T. Miller, representing the U.S. Bureau of Air Commerce. In 1935, Pan American Airways wanted to expand its routes to the Pacific and include Australia and New Zealand in its "Clipper" air routes, with a stopover in Pago Pago, American Samoa. However, an additional stopover point was sought. It had been decided that the Kingman Reef lagoon, located north of Samoa, would be suitable for overnight stops for planes en route from the U.S. to New Zealand. A supply ship, the ''North Wind,'' was stationed at Kingman Reef to provide fuel, lodging, and meals. On March 23, 1937, the S42B Pan American Clipper II, named '' Samoan Clipper'' and piloted by Captain Ed Musick, en route from
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
to
American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...
, became the first flight to land in Kingman Reef's lagoon. During the next several months, Pan Am successfully used the lagoon several times as a halfway station for its flying boats ( Sikorsky S-42B) when they traveled between those two points. However, a Clipper flight on January 11, 1938, ended in tragedy. Shortly after the early-morning takeoff from Pago Pago, as it was bound for
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the plane exploded. The right outboard engine had developed an oil leak, and the aircraft burst into flames while dumping fuel; there were no survivors. As a result of the tragedy, Pan Am ended flights to New Zealand via Kingman Reef and Pago Pago. It established a new route in July 1940 that used Canton Island and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
as stopovers instead. On February 14, 1941, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
issued
Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...
8682 to create naval defense areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established the "Kingman Reef Naval Defensive Sea Area", encompassing the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three-mile marine boundaries surrounding the atoll. "Kingman Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Kingman Reef unless authorized by the
Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...
. In 2012, Kingman Reef Atoll Development LLC, owned by descendants of the owners of the Palmyra Copra Co., Ltd., sued the U.S. government for its designation as a national wildlife refuge. The plaintiff sought $54.5 million in compensation for losing fishing rights, ecotourism, and other economic activity. However, in 2014, the federal court ruled that any such claim had expired by 1950 at the latest. In 2016, the ARRL Awards Committee of the American Radio Relay League removed Kingman Reef from its DXCC list, with the reef now considered part of the Palmyra Island / Jarvis Island DXCC Entity.


Geography

It is the northernmost of the Northern
Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...
and lies northwest of the next closest island ( Palmyra Atoll), and south of
Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
. The reef encloses a lagoon up to deep in its eastern part near the northeastern spit of land. The total area within the outer rim of the reef is . There are two small strips (spits) of dry land composed of coral rubble and giant clamshells on the eastern rim with areas of having a coastline of , a short spit on the northeast side of the lagoon and a spit twice as long but thinner on its south side. The highest point on the reef is less than above sea level, which is wet or awash most of the time, making Kingman Reef a maritime hazard. It has no natural resources and supports no economic activity.United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges – CIA World Factbook
Last updated April 7, 2010.
In the 1930s, it was used as a stopover along with Palu Palu for flying boats crossing the Pacific for commercial airline routes.


Political status

Kingman Reef has the status of an unincorporated territory of the United States, administered from Washington, D.C., by the
U.S. Department of Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relating ...
. The atoll is closed to the public. For statistical purposes, Kingman Reef is grouped as part of the
United States Minor Outlying Islands The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation applying to the minor outlying islands and groups of islands that comprise eight United States insular areas in the Pacific Ocean (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Isla ...
. In January 2009, Kingman Reef was designated a marine national monument. The pre-20th century names Danger Rock, Caldew Reef, Maria Shoal, and Crane Shoal refer to this atoll, which was entirely submerged at high tide. Thomas Hale Streets described its state in the 1870s, when it had:
... hardly, as yet, assumed the distinctive features of an island. It is entirely under water at high tide, and but a few coral heads project here and there above the surface at low water. In the course of time, however, it will undoubtedly be added to the orthern Line Islands
Kingman Reef is considered to be a county-equivalent by the U.S. Census Bureau. With only 0.01 square miles (0.03 square kilometers) of land,Britannica.com. Kingman Reef
Retrieved September 5, 2019.
Kingman Reef is the smallest county or county-equivalent by land area in the United States.


Ecology

Kingman Reef supports a vast variety of
marine life Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...
. Giant clams are abundant in the shallows, and there are approximately 38 genera and 130 species of stony corals on the reef. This is more than three times the species diversity of corals in the main Hawaiian Islands. The ecosystem of the reef and its subsequent food chain is known for the distinct quality of being primarily
predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
-based. Sharks comprised 74% of the top predator biomass (329 g·m) at Kingman Reef and 57% at Palmyra Atoll (97 g·m). Low shark numbers have been observed at Tabuaeran and Kiritimati. The percentage of the total fish biomass on the reef is made up of 85%
apex predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...
s, creating a high level of competition for food and nutrients among local organisms – particularly sharks, jacks, and other carnivores. The threatened green sea turtles that frequent nearby Palmyra Atoll travel to Kingman Reef to forage and bask on the coral rubble spits at low tide. However, above sea level, the reef is usually barren of macroorganisms. Mainly constructed of dead and dried coral skeletons, providing only
calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
as a source of nutrients, the small and narrow strips of dry land are only habitable by a handful of species for short periods. Most flora that begin to grow above water—primarily
coconut palm The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
s—die out quickly due to the fierce tides and lack of resources necessary to sustain plant life.


National Wildlife Refuge

On September 1, 2000, the Navy relinquished its control over Kingman Reef to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On January 18, 2001, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt created the Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge during his final days in office with Secretary's Order 3223. It is composed of the emergent coral rubble spits and all waters out to . While there are only of land, of water area is included in the Refuge. Along with six other islands, the reef was administered as part of the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In January 2009, that entity was upgraded to the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
. In 2025, this was renamed ''Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument''.


Amateur radio expeditions

Since the early 1940s, Kingman Reef has had minimal human contact. However,
amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...
operators from around the world have occasionally visited the reef to put it "on the air" in what is known as a DX-pedition. In 1974, a group of amateurs using the callsign KP6KR sailed to the reef and set up a temporary radio station and antenna. Other groups visited the island in subsequent years, including 1977, 1980, 1981, 1988, and 1993. More recently, 15 amateur radio operators from the ''Palmyra DX'' Group visited the reef in October 2000. Using the FCC-issued special event callsign ''K5K'', the group made more than 80,000 individual contacts with amateurs worldwide for 10 days. Between November 15, 1945, and March 28, 2016, Kingman Reef was considered a discrete entity to earn awards such as the DX Century Club. A video shot by amateur radio operators traveling to the K5P DX-pedition on Palmyra in January 2016 shows Kingman Reef mostly awash, raising questions as to whether a future activation of Kingman Reef would be possible. On March 28, 2016, the
ARRL The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. ARRL is a non-profit organization and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska of H ...
DXCC desk deleted Kingman Reef from the list of collectible entities effective March 29, 2016, and deeming Kingman a part of the
Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...
and Jarvis entity due to proximity of the islands and common administration of the islands by the Fish and Wildlife Service.


See also

*
Dependent territory A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state and remains politically outside the controll ...
*
Insular area In the law of the United States, an insular area is a U.S.-associated jurisdiction that is not part of a U.S. state or the Washington, D.C., District of Columbia. This includes fourteen Territories of the United States, U.S. territories adminis ...
* List of Guano Island claims


References


External links


Kingman Reef History by Jane Resture

Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuge

K5K Amateur Radio Expedition to Kingman Reef
* Kennedy Warne
"An Uneasy Eden"
National Geographic Magazine, July 2008 {{authority control Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument Coral reefs of the United States Insular areas of the United States Line Islands Reefs of the Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Pacific islands of the United States United States Minor Outlying Islands National Wildlife Refuges in the United States insular areas Protected areas established in 2001 Reefs of the United States