Aono Raina High Sea

The northern Line Islands rise as low coral rings between Hawaii and the equator, spread across a long stretch of open Pacific. Kiritimati, Teraina and Tabuaeran contain the largest islands and enclosed lagoons, while several smaller reefs provide only brief shelter. Strong currents and shifting winds made this a sea of isolated landfalls.

Marae and village remains prove that Polynesian voyagers reached several islands by the fourteenth century. Fishing grounds and fresh water sustained visiting crews, and oral traditions and navigation linked atolls across long distances. Cook reached Kiritimati in 1777, and Fanning visited Teraina and Tabuaeran in 1798.

Whaling ships entered the same waters in the early nineteenth century. They stopped for water, wood and provisions, beginning with the Coquette at Kiritimati in 1822. These visits joined European maritime traffic to an older Pacific world in which islands were connected by wayfinding, exchange and seasonal movement. The northern group remained far from major ports, so Open-water crossings between them depended on reliable wayfinding, careful provisioning and steady seasonal winds.