Kingman Reff

Kingman Reef is a low coral feature in the northern Line Islands, with a lagoon and very little ground standing above the Pacific. Its exposed land rises only about three feet above sea level. Such a place could enter a sailor’s record without offering the resources of a settled island. The first recorded Western contact was made by the American captain Edmund Fanning of the ship Betsey, who found the reef on 14 June 1798. For passing ships it remained a hazard to be noted on charts rather than a place to settle.