Saint Paul Island

Saint Paul is a small volcanic island in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Amsterdam Island. Its great crater holds a basin sheltered by the surrounding cliffs. The island was known to Portuguese and Dutch navigators on the route to Asia; in 1696 Willem de Vlamingh visited it while searching for a missing ship. At that time a bar of pebbles closed the crater basin from the sea, forcing his boats to be hauled across it. The bar was later breached, opening a narrow passage into the basin.