The Tizard Bank, is a partially sunken

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 ...

and one of the significant maritime features of the north-western part of the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands (; zh, s=南沙群岛, t=南沙群島, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; ; ) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets, cays, and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atoll ...

. It is claimed by

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, China, and Taiwan, and various parts of it are occupied by these states. It was named after Thomas Henry Tizard (1839 – 17 February 1924), a British oceanographer and surveyor who surveyed the bank from aboard HMS ''Rifleman'' in the 1860s. In 1947 the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

government gave the bank the name

Zheng He Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch, admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty, who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in History of China, Chinese history. Born into a Muslims, Muslim famil ...

Archipelago after the famous Ming-era admiral, although there is no evidence that he ever visited Tizard Bank. From before the 1870s the islands were used by fishermen from

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

with

Itu Aba Island Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, and various other names, is the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The island is elliptical in shape being in length and in width, with an area of . It is located o ...

having a semi-permanent settlement of Chinese fishermen. The bank rises steeply from surrounding depths ranging from 500 to 700 meters. It is in length, and extends west from the Gaven Reefs to the NW of Dangerous Ground.NGA Chart 93044
shows the area NW of Dangerous Ground.
Note that this chart incorrectly labels the bank as the Southhampton Reefs - the Southampton Reefs are further east (10°11'N 115°17'E) - and also mis-spells Petley Reef as ''Peltey Reef''. The atoll is up to wide. The total area is , and the greatest depth of the central

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

is 80 meters. The central lagoon generally is 10 to 40 meters deep, although many coral heads have much shallower depths. There are several entrances into the lagoon. The bank contains a number of features along the rim of the reef, including shoals, reefs, islands, and cays, numerous wrecks, some lighthouses, and an ammunition dumping ground in about 2000m of water to the north of Itu Aba. Several coral heads with depths of 6-12m lie in the lagoon, and depths "3.7m less than charted can be expected. ... Mariners should navigate with extreme caution in this vicinity." Features in the area include: * Namyit Island (10°11'N 114°22'E) on the S side of the bank is about 12 miles S of Itu Aba. It is less than a metre high and covered with small trees and brush. Occupied by Vietnam. * Gaven Reefs (10°12'N 114°13'E) consists of two reefs which cover at high tide and lie 7 miles W and 8.5 miles WNW of Namyit Island. Occupied by China. *

(10°23'N 114°22'E), lies on the NW edge of the bank. Occupied by Taiwan. *

Zhongzhou Reef Zhongzhou Reef (also known as Ban Than Reef among other variants) (; ) is a small coral reef on the north edge of the Tizard Bank in the Spratly Islands, South China Sea under administration by the Republic of China (Taiwan). It lies east of Taiw ...

(Ban Than Reef / Centre Cay) lies on the north edge between Itu Aba and Sand Cay, 3 miles E of Itu Aba * Sand Cay lies on the north edge, 4.5 miles E of Zhongzhou * Petley Reef, which dries 0.9m, is about 1 mile in extent and lies on the N side of the bank. Occupied by Vietnam. * Eldad Reef, 7 miles ESE of Petley Reef, is the easternmost drying reef of the group. The reef is 4.5 miles long with the middle section having a depth of about 1.2m, located at the NE end of the reef. Unoccupied.

(''Eldad Reef'')

It is neighboured by the Loaita Bank to the North, Discovery Great Reef to the west, and the

Union Banks Union Banks (Pagkakaisa Banks and Reefs) is a large drowned atoll in the center of Dangerous Ground (South China Sea), Dangerous Ground in the Spratly Islands in South China Sea, west of the Philippine coast, containing islands and reefs whose o ...

to the south.

References

External links

Chart of Tizard Bank
{{South China Sea Banks of the Spratly Islands