Kingman Reef

English

Dry strip of land on Kingman Reef with a coconut palm seedling

Etymology

Named according to captain W. E. Kingman who described it in 1853. The reef had been earlier discovered by the American Captain Edmund Fanning in 1798.

Proper noun

Kingman Reef

1. One of the US-administered Line Islands.
   • 1872 October 2 [1872 August 31], Nathaniel Green, quotee, “Marine Journal”, in The Friend, volume 31/21, number 10, Honolulu, page 81, column 3:

     KINGMAN'S REEF.—The following report in regard to this reef, has been received from the U. S. ship Resaca, Commander Green:
     August 31st, 1872.—At 1 o'clock, P M, on a wind heading NE 1/2 E, Kingman reef to windward bore SE 1/2 E, distance seven miles, making centre of the reef in lat 6° 27′ 30" N, long 162° 13′ 30" W, which nearly corresponds with the position as given by Capt Kingman. It is certainly a dangerous reef, the discolored water being observed to extend eight or nine miles, the sea combing over the ridge of the reef for a space of about three miles in an ENE and WSW direction. Several patches of white sand and coral were observed from the top even with the water's edge.

   • 1897 August 7, “Editorial”, in Western Electrician, volume XXI, number 6, Chicago, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 76, columns 2–3:

     The Penguin left Sydney on April 10th, proceeding by way of Suva Fiji to Palmyra Island, where a party was landed to observe the tides. The steamer then proceeded to the north and made an accurate survey of Kingman reef, which was found to be 60 miles due north of Palmyra Island.

   • 1938 January 15, Chas. A. Morrison, “Short Waves”, in Radio Guide, volume VII, number 13, Chicago, Ill.: Regal Press, Inc., →OCLC, page 44, column 2:

     Pan-American Airways Company has established a 500-watt short-wave station aboard the S. S. Trade Wind, anchored at Kingman reef, a tiny coral atoll 1,067 miles south of Hawaii, on the recently inaugurated air-route between Honolulu, and Auckland, New Zealand.

Synonyms

• (pre-1900s names) Danger Reef, Caldew Reef, Maria Shoal, Crane Shoal

Translations

island

• Thai: คิงแมนรีฟ

Further reading

• Leon E. Seltzer, editor (1952), “Kingman Reef”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World‎^[1], Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 949, column 1
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Kingman Reef”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[2], volume 2, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1565, column 3