Aono Raina High Sea

The sea around the Line Islands opens a broad approach to eleven coral atolls and reef islands scattered across the central Pacific. Archaeological remains on Kiritimati, Tabuaeran, Teraina, Malden, Millennium and Flint include coral marae platforms and village complexes, indicating Polynesian settlement by at least the fourteenth century. These communities navigated between small landfalls in sailing canoes, reading swells and bird movements; European visitors later overlooked many of their traces.

Captain Cook reached Kiritimati, which he called Christmas Island, in 1777. Captain Fanning visited Teraina and Tabuaeran in 1798, adding new names and routes to an ocean already crossed by island voyagers. Whaling ships entered the chain in the nineteenth century, seeking water, wood and provisions. The Coquette was recorded at Kiritimati in 1822, and regular calls linked these isolated reefs to a much wider Pacific trade.

Deep passages separate the atolls, leaving coral shelves and lagoon mouths as the few sheltering anchorages. The surrounding waters also supported seabirds and turtles, while safe anchorages changed with wind and swell. A landfall offered fresh supplies, but the island chain did not become a single port. For ships traversing the equatorial Pacific, these scattered shores remained a chain of provisioning stops, while the surrounding sea preserved older routes of Polynesian navigation.