 NASA photograph of Ducie Island | |
 | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | South Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 24°40′09″S124°47′11″W / 24.66917°S 124.78639°W /-24.66917; -124.78639 |
| Archipelago | Pitcairn Islands |
| Total islands | 4 |
| Major islands | Acadia,Pandora,Edwards,Westward |
| Highest elevation | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Administration | |
Ducie Island (/ˈduːsi/; Pitkern:Ducie Ailen) is an uninhabitedatoll in thePitcairn Islands group, which also includesPitcairn,Henderson andOeno islands. Ducie lies east of Pitcairn Island, and east ofHenderson Island, and has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2), which includes thelagoon. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, measured northeast to southwest, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide.[1] The island is composed of four islets: Acadia, Pandora, Westward and Edwards.
Despite its sparse vegetation, the atoll is known as the breeding ground of a number of bird species. More than 90% of the world population ofMurphy's petrel nests on Ducie, while pairs ofred-tailed tropicbirds andfairy terns make around 1% of the world population for each species.
Ducie was first discovered in 1606 byPedro Fernandes de Queiros, who named itLuna Puesta, and rediscovered byEdward Edwards, captain ofHMS Pandora, who was sent in 1790 to capture the mutineers ofHMS Bounty. He named the islandDucie in honour ofFrancis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie. In 1867, a claim on the island was made under the United States'sGuano Islands Act, but the claim was never bonded. The United Kingdom annexed the island on 19 December 1902 as part of the Pitcairn Islands. Due to its inaccessibility and the distance from Pitcairn, Ducie is rarely visited, receiving one or two visits a year from cruise ships.[2]
The island was discovered by a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese sailorPedro Fernandes de Queirós on 26 January 1606, during an expedition that began inCallao, Peru.[3] Supported byPope Clement VIII andPhilip III of Spain, Queirós was given the command of theSan Pedro,San Pablo andZabra. The fleet was nicknamedLos Tres Reyes Magos ("The Three Wise Men"). The objective of the expedition was to take soldiers, friars and provisions to establish a colony in theSanta Cruz Islands.[4]
Ducie Island was the first of eighteen discoveries on the trip. Queirós named the islandLuna Puesta (roughly, "moon that has set"). On the same day, he also sighted two more islands, one that he namedSan Juan Bautista ("St John the Baptist"), and the otherLa Encarnación ("the Incarnation"). It is unclear which one was Henderson island and which one was Pitcairn.[5] The confusion was later compounded when a chart produced by Admiral José de Espinosa marked Ducie asLa Encarnación, rather than asLuna Puesta.[6]
The island was rediscovered and named Ducie Island on 16 March 1791 by CaptainEdward Edwards, ofHMS Pandora, who had been despatched from Britain in 1790 to arrest theBounty mutineers.[6] Edwards named it in honour ofFrancis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie, under whom he had served earlier in his career.[7] HMSPandora turned northwards from Ducie and, because of this change of course, Edwards did not sight the other islands of the group. If HMSPandora had maintained its course, it would eventually have reached Pitcairn Island and found theBounty mutineers.[8]
The crew of thewhaleshipEssex, which a whale had attacked and sunk in November 1820, mistakenly believed that they had reached Ducie after a month at sea in two whaleboats. In fact they had reachedHenderson Island.[9] Captain Thomas Raine ofSurrey, who was searching for the survivors ofEssex, in 1820 made the first recorded landing on Ducie.[5]Frederick William Beechey, who arrived inHMS Blossom during November 1825, wrote the first comprehensive description of the island. Beechey's expedition did not land in the atoll, but members of the crew sailed around it in small boats.[10] Based on Beechey's survey, the first Admiralty chart of the island was published in 1826. For nearly a hundred years it was the only available map of the island.[11]
In March 1867, John Daggett filed a claim on Ducie Island (referring to it as 'Ducer Island') with the U.S. State Department under the Guano Islands Act. Daggett was instructed to provide further information, including to affidavits of the quality and quantity of guano present on the island; however, according to a 1933 State Department report, Daggett never provided the additional information and the claim was never accepted by the United States.[12]
On 5 June 1881, the mail shipAcadia ran aground on the island while returning fromSan Francisco, Peru after unloading its cargo. On the way toQueenstown orFalmouth for new orders, Master Stephen George calculated a route passing 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) to the east of Ducie. George left the first mate in command at 6 am. Half an hour later, the first mate saw a white line, which he disregarded on the assumption that it was phosphorescence in the water. Later, realising that it was land, he manoeuvred to avoid running aground, but failed. The look-out excused himself by saying that he thought that the white land was a cloud. The crew made several unsuccessful attempts to re-float the ship, after which the master sailed one of the ship's boats to Pitcairn Island. He was assisted there by the local inhabitants and returned aboard theEdward O'Brien, an American boat, to rescue the rest of the crew. The incident was later investigated in a court in Liverpool, where the ultimate cause of the wreck was left undetermined, though possible causes included a calculation error by the master or an unknown current that carried the ship to the island. The court declared the master not guilty of any wrongdoing.[13] A stone marker with a memorial inscription is located at the landing point on Acadia Islet. It was unveiled to commemorate the recovery of the anchor in 1990. The wreck lies offshore from the memorial stone in about 10 metres of water.[14]
In 1969, the atoll was proposed as an "Island for Science",[15] and was later recommended as aRamsar Site.[16] Major expeditions that came to the island to record its biota include theWhitney South Seas Expedition in 1922, the National Geographic Society-Oceanic Institute Expedition to Southeast Oceania of 1970–71[15] and the Smithsonian expedition of 1975.[17] More recent expeditions include the MV Rambler Expedition by the Smithsonian in 1987,[18] one byRaleigh International in the same year,[15] the Sir Peter Scott Commemorative Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands of 1991–1992 (aka The Pitcairn Islands Scientific Expedition),[19] In 2012, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala producedSharks of Lost Island including Ducie and all the Pitcairn Islands.[20] Because of its inaccessibility, Ducie is rarely approached,[21] but cruise ships make one or two landings per year.[22] In addition, a book published in 2000 made the (unsubstantiated) claim that; unrecorded visits are known to be made by freighters and tankers that dump residues on the island or in the nearby waters.[21]
Although Captain Edward Edwards discovered the atoll in 1791, Ducie was not considered a British possession.[23] In 1867 Ducie was claimed by the United States under theGuano Islands Act, which established that an uninhabited territory withguano deposits could be claimed as a US possession, so long as it was unclaimed by any other country.[24] Despite claims on several other territories, based on various documents such as the Guano Islands Act, neither the United States nor the United Kingdom recognised the sovereignty claimed by each other. Neither of the two considered that the mere discovery of an island was sufficient to claim sovereignty over it,[25] and often a formal act of possession was considered the proper procedure to claim rights over a territory.[23] Ultimately, the United States did not assert its sovereignty over most of its claimed territories.[25]
Under the 1893 PacificOrder in Council,Pitcairn Island was governed by the High Commissioner of theBritish Western Pacific Territories in Fiji.[26] On 19 December 1902, commissioned by R. T. Simmons, the British Consul inTahiti, Captain G. F. Jones and a group of Pitcairners visited the nearby islands and annexed them to the United Kingdom.[27] In 1903 Ducie was annexed by the same procedure[28] and placed under the authority of the Western Pacific High Commissioner.[26] R. T. Simmons stated in a dispatch to theForeign Office thatJames Russell McCoy had assured him that the islands had always been considered as dependencies of Pitcairn, and that he and other Pitcairners had frequently visited them in the past. This claim is contested by Donald McLoughlin on grounds of the distance between Pitcairn Island and Ducie Island and the lack of a suitable boat to navigate the distance between the two, casting doubt on whether they had ever visited Ducie.[5]
On 4 August 1937, Captain J. W. Rivers-Carnac, commander ofHMSLeander, reaffirmed British sovereignty over Ducie by hoisting theUnion Flag and placing boards proclaiming the island to be the property ofKing George VI.[5] Ducie was one of several islands thought valuable for potentialseaplane bases, though they did not materialise.[29] In 1953, the Pacific Order in Council ceased to have effect and the BritishGovernor of Fiji was appointedGovernor of the Pitcairn Islands, which became a separate British colony.[30] A new constitution for the Pitcairn Islands was enacted on 10 February 2010, establishing that Ducie and the rest of the islands are ruled by a governor designated by the British monarch. The governor has a duty to enforce the provisions of the constitution.[31]
Ducie lies 290 miles (470 km) east ofPitcairn Island and is claimed by some to be the southernmost atoll in the world at 24°41' S latitude.[32] However,Elizabeth Reef in theTasman Sea is at 29°57 S latitude, so the assertion on behalf of Ducie Island is doubtful. Ducie Island's land area is 170 acres (69 ha) and its maximum elevation, occurring on the Westward islet, is 15 feet (4.6 m).[33]
Ducie is located 620 miles (1,000 km) west of the edge of theEaster Plate. It was formed approximately 8 million years ago,[34] afterOeno Island was formed by ahotspot that later caused a magma leak generated in the Oenolineation. The leak spread overfracture zone FZ2, which was formed by the third movement of thePacific Plate.[35] The atoll is part of the Oeno-Henderson-Ducie-Crough seamount, speculated to be part of the southernTuamotus.[36]
The atoll consists of four islets: Acadia—which is by far the largest—Pandora, Westward and Edwards.[36] All three of the smaller islets can be accessed on foot from Acadia at low tide.[32] The islets were named by Harald Rehder and John Randall, who visited the atoll during an expedition by theSmithsonian Institution in 1975.[37]
The atoll has a central lagoon, accessible by boat only by way of a channel 100 yards (91 m) wide located in the southwest, between Pandora and Westward Islets.[40] It has a maximum depth of 52 feet (16 m) and its bottom consists of sand and coral.[41] Whirlpools in the lagoon are common, caused by caves that drain the water from the lagoon into the ocean.[21]
Pandora is known as being one of the three coastline vertices forPoint Nemo, the set of coordinates in the South Pacific Ocean that represents the furthest point from any land in three directions.[42]
The vegetation in the atoll is sparse, because of the lack of fresh water.[21] Only two species of vascular plant are currently known to grow there[43] – one of the smallest such floras on any island.[44] Acadia, Pandora and Edwards Islets are forested withHeliotropium foertherianum,[45] but Westward Islet is not.Pemphis acidula has also been recorded on Ducie; specimens were found during an expedition in 1991.[32]
During the expedition ofHugh Cuming in 1827 and the 1922Whitney South Sea Expedition,Lepturus grass was found on Acadia Islet.[46] However, it disappeared when storm waves deforested the island some time before the Smithsonian expedition of 1975.[47] ThusH. foertherianum now dominates the vegetation of the islets.[48] Additionally, there are a number of species ofcoralline algae, includingPorolithon onkodes,Porolithon gardineri, andCaulerpa racemosa.[41]
The atoll is populated by several species of birds, fish, and reptiles. In the lagoon, sparse, living coral can be found;[32] the dominant species isMontipora bilaminata (familyAcroporidae).[41] Most of the coral in the lagoon is dead, presumed to have been killed by influxes of cold water.
Though no terrestrial birds are found on the atoll,[22] Ducie Island is known for the seabirds that breed there.[14] Birds that have been recorded nesting on the atoll include thered-billed tropicbird,red-tailed tropicbird,white tern,great frigatebird,masked booby, andred-footed booby. Winteringbristle-thighed curlews have been recorded as well. A number of tern species, including thesooty tern,blue noddy,brown noddy,lesser noddy, andwhite tern have been recorded, as have several members of the family Procellariidae:Kermadec petrel,Trindade petrel,Murphy's petrel, andChristmas shearwater.[49]
The island is particularly important for Murphy's petrel, as more than 90% of its world population breeds on Ducie.[50] Around 3,000 pairs of Christmas shearwaters, about 5% of the world's total population, can be found on the island too. Meanwhile, the red-tailed tropicbirds and white terns that breed on Ducie are around 1% of the world population of each species.[32]Phoenix petrels, which previously inhabited the atoll, apparently disappeared between the Whitney expedition in 1922 and the 1991–92 Pitcairn Scientific Expedition.[22] The island has been identified byBirdLife International as anImportant Bird Area (IBA), principally for its colonies ofMurphy's,herald, andKermadec petrels, andChristmas shearwaters.[51]
In the lagoon there are around 138 fish species, which also inhabit southeastern Oceania, the Western Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.[52] The lagoon is noted for its poisonous fish and dangerous sharks.[53] Theyellow-edged lyretail, theblacktip grouper, and thegreasy grouper are known to causeciguatera poisoning.[52] The lagoon is also inhabited byGalápagos sharks and thewhitetip reef shark.[54] The Galápagos shark is dangerous to humans,[55] while the whitetips are seldom aggressive unless provoked.[56] Five species are found exclusively around the Pitcairn Islands:Sargocentron megalops (a species ofsquirrelfish), thespiny butterflyfish, theHenderson triplefin (a species ofthreefin blenny), an unnamed species ofAlticus (a genus ofcombtooth blenny), and an unnamed species ofAmmodytes (a genus ofsand lance).[57]
Lizards that inhabit the island include thewhite-bellied skink (Emoia cyanura), photographed by E. H. Quayle during an expedition in 1922, and a lizard reported in the journal of an expedition in 1935 by James Chapin. The species of the latter was uncertain, but it was thought to be agecko, possibly either anoceanic gecko (Gehyra oceanica), or amourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris).[58] The 1991–92 Pitcairn Islands Scientific Expedition found specimens of both the mourning gecko and the white-bellied skink.[59] The only mammal known to inhabit Ducie is thePolynesian rat;[46] In 1997, there was a successful project to eradicate these by Brian Bell (WMIL) and Graham Wragg (S/V Te Manu),[60] to aid the conservation of bird species threatened by the rat population.[61]Green sea turtles feed on Ducie, but have not been seen to breed there.[32]
Ducie receives visits once or twice a year from cruise ships, which land their passengers on the north shore of Acadia. It is quite possible that there are other visits that are unrecorded, but probably infrequent.
Pitcairn Islands articles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Islands |  | ||
| Settlement | |||
| Politics | |||
| Culture |
| ||
| Other topics | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
