Starbuck Island
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Starbuck Island (or Volunteer Island) is an uninhabited
coral island A coral island is a type of island formed from coral detritus and associated organic material. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas, typically as part of a coral reef which has grown to cover a far larger area under the sea. The term low ...
in the central
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
, and is part of the Central
Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...
of
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
. Its former names include "Barren Island", "Coral Queen Island", "Hero Island", "Low Island", and "Starve Island".


Geography, flora and fauna

Located just east from the geographic center of the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
(), and measuring east-to-west and north-to-south, Starbuck Island has a land area of . It is a low, dry,
coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
island with a steep beach backed by a bank composed of large coral fragments. Several
hypersaline A hypersaline lake is a landlocked body of water that contains significant concentrations of sodium chloride, brines, and other salts, with saline levels surpassing those of ocean water (3.5%, i.e. ). Specific microbial species can thrive i ...
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 ...
s form on the island's eastern side. These occasionally dry up, and are said to be dangerous to approach: one worker during the island's
guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...
-mining days sank up to his neck in salty mud before being rescued. There is no
freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
on the island, which is one of the drier atolls in the Line Island group. Annual yearly rainfall averages approximately . Little vegetation exists on Starbuck; stunted ''
Sida fallax ''Sida fallax'', known as yellow ilima, golden mallow,, or Ilima is a species of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plant in the ''Hibiscus'' family, Malvaceae, indigenous to the Hawaiian Archipelago and other Pacific Islands. Plants may be e ...
'' scrub and low herbs and grasses predominate, along with a few ''
Cordia subcordata ''Cordia subcordata'' is a species of flowering tree in the borage family. It can be found growing in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands including Hawaii. The plant is known by a variety of na ...
'' bushes and
bunch grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennia ...
. Photos have shown a few
palm trees The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially ...
growing near the center of the island. The island boasts a large colony of
sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans, and remarkably, has evolved the ability to fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only ...
s, estimated at 1.5 million pairs, together with
Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), or , is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asi ...
s,
feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s,
green turtles The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...
, and around fifteen other species of seabirds. Other accounts estimate the sooty tern population to be as high as three to six million birds.


History

James Henderson, merchant captain of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
ship ''Hercules'', sighted the island in 1819 while sailing from South America to
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
, India. Soon after his arrival a local newspaper, ''The Calcutta Journal (or Political, Commercial, and Literary Gazette)'', published Henderson's report of three islands which he had encountered during his voyage, but did not state the exact date for his sighting of modern Starbuck Island.
Henry Evans Maude Henry Evans Maude, (1 October 1906 – 4 November 2006) was a British Colonial Service administrator, historian and anthropologist. Life and career Maude was born in Bankipur (Bihar), Bankipore, British Raj, India.MAUDE, Henry Evans (1926) di ...
estimated that this may have been in early February 1819. The next captain known to have seen it was
Obed Starbuck The Starbuck family were prominent in the history of whaling in the Hawaiian Islands, based in Nantucket, Massachusetts, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Some members of the family gained wider exposure due to their discovery of v ...
, captain of the
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...
''Hero'' out of
Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...
, on September 5, 1823. The island was sighted again on December 12, 1823 by Obed's first cousin, Valentine Starbuck, the American-born master of the British whaling ship . ''L'Aigle'' was carrying King
Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kala ...
of
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and Queen
Kamāmalu Kamāmalu Kalani-Kuaʻana-o-Kamehamalu-Kekūāiwa-o-kalani-Kealiʻi-Hoʻopili-a-Walu (–1824) was Queen consort of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as the wife of King Kamehameha II. Kamāmalu was short for Kamehamalu or Kamehamehamalu m ...
and their retinue to England. Valentine Starbuck is the first non-Pacific Islander known to have set foot on the island.Bryan, p. 128 The island was finally charted in 1825 by Captain The 7th Lord Byron (a cousin of the famous poet). Byron, commanding the British warship , was returning to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
from a special mission to Honolulu to repatriate the remains of the Hawaiian royal couple,
King Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kalani Kaleiʻaimoku o ...
and Queen Kamāmalu, who had died of
measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...
while trying to visit
King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
. Lord Byron also sighted and charted
Mauke Mauke (Ma'uke also Akatokamanava) is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. Geography Mauke is a raised coral atoll, with a central volcan ...
and
Malden Island Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the 19th century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Kiribati, Republic of Kiribati. The lagoo ...
, which he named after his surveying officer.Dunmore, p 46 Starbuck Island was claimed by the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
under the 1856
Guano Islands Act The Guano Islands Act (, enacted August 18, 1856, codified at §§ 1411-1419) is a United States federal law passed by the Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits ...
, but was controlled by Britain after 1866, when possession was taken by Commodore Swinburn of . The island was mined for
phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...
between 1870 and 1893. It formed part of the British
Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean was part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. It was a British protectorate, protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a crown colony, colony until 1 January 1 ...
colony prior to the independence of
Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...
in 1979. American claims to the atoll were formally vacated in the
Treaty of Tarawa On September 20, 1979, representatives of the newly independent Republic of Kiribati and of the United States met in Tarawa to sign a treaty of friendship between the two nations, known as the Treaty of Tarawa. More formally, the treaty is entit ...
, signed the same year. At its highest point, the island rises to only about 5 meters. Due to its low profile and dangerous surrounding reefs, a number of ships were wrecked at Starbuck Island in the late 19th century. The French transport ''Euryale'' wrecked there in March 1870 and the crew was marooned on the atoll for 35 days. The experience allowed the captain of ''Euryale'', future contre-admiral Albert Des Portes, to finally chart the correct geographical location of the island. All members of the crew were eventually rescued and returned to France. On August 7, 1896 the Norwegian ship ''Seladon'' was wrecked against the barrier. The crew went into the lifeboats and drifted for 30 days until they landed on the island of
Niulakita Niulakita is the southernmost island of Tuvalu, and also the name of the only village on this island. Niulakita has a population of 36 (2022 Census). The residents of Niulakita have moved to the island from Niutao. Niulakita is represented in ...
, Tuvalu. They lived together with a few natives for 10 months until they were rescued by a passing ship. Starbuck Island has been designated as the Starbuck Island Wildlife Sanctuary. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a 12-nautical-mile fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands: Caroline (commonly called Millennium), Flint, Vostok, Malden, and Starbuck.


Photo gallery

File:Starbuck AKK Wall.jpg, Ruined wall from 19th-century guano settlement on Starbuck Island File:Starbuck AKK Sooty Tern.jpg, Sooty tern colony on Starbuck Island File:Starbuck Island Interior.jpg, Largely barren interior of Starbuck Island File:Bidens kiribatiensis Starbuck AKK.jpg, '' Bidens kiribatiensis'' on Starbuck Island


See also

* Protected areas of Kiribati *
List of Guano Island claims A number of islands were claimed as insular areas on behalf of the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. These claims were made by private individuals to the U.S. Department of State and were not accepted by the United States unless ...
*
List of islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
*
Desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...


References


Sources

* Bloxam, Andrew (1925), ''Diary of Andrew Bloxam: naturalist of the "Blonde" on her trip from England to the Hawaiian islands, 1824-25'' Volume 10 of Bernice P.
Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
special publication * Bryan, Jr., Edwin H. (1942); ''American Polynesia and the Hawaiian Chain'', Honolulu, Hawaii: Tongg Publishing Company * Dunmore, John (1992); ''Who's Who in Pacific Navigation'', Australia:Melbourne University Press, * Quanchi, Max & Robson, John, (2005); ''Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands'', USA: Scarecrow Press,


External links


Starbuck Island

Starbuck Island Interior photo


{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Kiribati Former populated places in Kiribati Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Line Islands Atolls of Kiribati Former disputed islands Line Islands (Kiribati)