Some more informations you will find here:![[c]](click.jpg){kind=small}
French Frigate Shols
one of the forbidden Hawaii'an Islands
by Wolfgang Schippke, DC3MF
My special Thank to Mr.Ted Brattstrom (NH6YK) for his pictures and
informations
[last update: 20 June 1997]
Some more informations you will find here:
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La Perouse Pinnacle the highest land of French Frigate with a new land
close west
The Frech Frigate Shoals is an important
reef, located 1200 kilometers north-west of Hawaii, to which it belongs.
It is located on the mean position of nearly 23N45 and 166W10. The main
reef is halfmoon sharped with a wide opening towards west. The most part
in the east is awash or above water, only breakers shown the outer reff.
Not only in the past several ships were wrecked on it. Inside the lagoon,
as near the reef selfe 18 small islands are located. Only 13 of this islands
are named. The most important of all is the La Perouse Rock, located in
its centre, a volcanic rock of 5 meter elevation.
The complete reef has an area of nearly 350 square-kilometers, but only 10 ha are real land, and only 1 ha is covered with spare vegetation.
The islands are uninhabited. On the both islands Trig and Tern, located in the noth, are some small huts, used by fishermen and by scientifics.
The bigest island of all is Tern (23N52; 166W17), some 2500 meters long and up to 800 meters wide. Its highest point is round 7 meters above water-level. the second big island is Trig island (23N52; 166W15), 1900 meter from east to west and some 600 meters wide.
The islands are inhabited by birds and some endemic spiders and some insects. During a ship-havarie some dogs and cats come to some islands, changed the ecology on that island completely.
Today all islands are a part of the Hawaiian Islands National Trust and any stay and landing is absolutely forbidden, permits are given today only for 10 scientifics a year.
The
La Perouse Pinnacle is a solitary Rock on 23N46 and 166W16 composited
of basalt and the rest of a former active submarine volcanous. The Rock
is about 37 meters high, is steep sided and covered with some moose and
grass. A smaller rock, about 3 cables west rised up within the last 200
years and is now about 3 m high.
HISTORY: The reef was discovered by the French La Perouse on the 06th of November 1786 and named French Frigate. La Perouse made some excellent maps, and drawn also the Rock in the centre. One year later the British Brooke reached the reef and named most of all islands.
The French Frigate Shoals were annexed by the King of Hawaii in 1856, and sold the reefs in 1861 to the British Guano In 1859 a British Scientific Expedition under the leadership of Dr.H.Broox stood about 4 month on the reefs to collect stones and drawing the first publiced maps. Trade Company. In 1867 the American Pacific Island Company together with the Australian Copra and Guano LTD sold the reef and build up a station on Tern Island to mined phosphate till 1906, when it was mined out.
At the start of WW II, when Japanese troups bomed Pearl Habour, also Japanese troups landed on French Frigate and occupated the reef. Within only a few days a complete Japanese Military Base was errected on Tern Island.
During World Ware II the American Navy build up an airfield, and a big habour on Tern Island. The station was mened till 1947 when the station was abandoned. The last big scientific expedition took place in 1963 and was made by the Smithonian Institute for Pacific Ocean Biological survey. Some 50 scientifics stood one year on the islands in order to study flora and founa as the growing up of the reef. The collected material was publiced in a 4000 page paper.