Blenheim Reef

Blenheim Reef, part of the Chagos Archipelago, contains the coral atoll of Baxio Predassa in its Southeastern rim, plus another completely submerged atoll. The reef is located in the northeastern part of the Chagos Archipelago, at coord|5|12|S|072|28|E|display=inline,title. It measures almost eleven kilometres (North–South) by more than four kilometres (East–West), with a total area of 36.8 square kilometres, including the lagoon of 8.5 km² (the difference being accounted for by the reef flat, for the most part). Only on the Eastern side, there are a few sand cays above the water. The largest of them is East Island, which is not quite 200 meters long and 70 meters wide. The other islands in the group are North, Middle and South. Only a few grasses grow on the island. The lagoon is up to 18 metres deep and encumbered with rock. The fringing coral reef has a wide passage in the Southwest. The closest land is Takamaka Island in the Salomon Islands Atoll, about 20 kilometres to the southwest.

History

The atoll is thought to have been discovered around 1570 by Portuguese sailors, which is why it is also known under its Portuguese name "Baixo Predassa". The present name comes from the ship Blenheim of the East Indian Trading Company, which was lost in 1799 to the reef.

From 1845 to 1860, guano and phosphate were mined. This venture was then given up due to inadequate transport facilities. Around 1880, the Indian Ocean Fruit Company attempted to plant palm trees on the island, but all seedlings were washed into the sea during a storm. On June 29, 1975, the atoll was incorporated into the Chagos Archipelago and claimed by Mauritius. Before that day, it was not claimed by any nation.

In total, there have been 57 ship wrecks around Blenheim Reef, with an estimated 200 lost lives.

External links

* [http://mitglied.lycos.de/dc3mf/Blenheim.htm further information (in German)]