Starbuck Island

Starbuck Island, also known as Volunteer Island, is an uninhabited coral island. It is located in the central Pacific Ocean. This island is part of the Line Islands within the nation of Kiribati.

The island is a low, dry landform made of coral limestone. It is one of the driest atolls in the Line Island group. The island has a very low profile. Its highest point reaches only about 5 meters above the sea.

The geography of the island is shaped by its coral structure. A steep beach surrounds the land. This beach is backed by a bank of large coral fragments. On the eastern side, several hypersaline lagoons form. These are lagoons with very high salt content. These lagoons occasionally dry up completely. They can be dangerous to approach because of the thick, salty mud. One worker during the guano-mining era once sank up to his neck in this mud. There is no freshwater available on the island. The annual rainfall averages only about 1,100 millimeters.

Vegetation on Starbuck Island is very limited due to the dry conditions. You will mostly find stunted Sida fallax scrub. There are also low herbs, grasses, and bunch grass. A few Cordia subcordata bushes grow there as well. Some photos show a few palm trees near the island's center. Despite the sparse plants, the island supports massive amounts of wildlife. It hosts a huge colony of sooty terns. Estimates for these birds range from 1.5 million pairs to as many as six million birds. Other animals include green turtles and fifteen other species of seabirds. Polynesian rats and feral cats also live on the island.

Human discovery of the island began in the early 19th century. Captain James Henderson first sighted the island in 1819. He was a merchant captain for the East India Company. He was sailing from South America to Calcutta, India. Henry Evans Maude estimated the sighting occurred in early February 1819. In September 1823, Captain Obed Starbuck of the whaler Hero sighted the island. His cousin, Valentine Starbuck, visited the island on December 12, 1823. Valentine Starbuck was the first non-Pacific Islander known to have set foot there.

The island was formally charted in 1825 by Captain The 7th Lord Byron. He commanded the British warship HMS Blonde. He was returning to London after a mission to Honolulu. He was helping to repatriate the remains of King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu of Hawaii. These royals had died of measles during their trip to England. Byron also charted the nearby islands of Mauke and Malden. The island's history involves different controlling powers. The United States claimed it under the 1856 Guano Islands Act. However, Britain took control in 1866 under Commodore Swinburn.

Economic activity occurred on the island through phosphate mining. This mining took place between 1870 and 1893. The phosphate came from guano, which is accumulated bird droppings. Starbuck Island was once part of the British Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. In 1979, Kiribati gained independence. In that same year, the Treaty of Tarawa was signed. This treaty formally vacated the American claims to the atoll.

The island's reefs are very dangerous for maritime travel. Many ships have been wrecked on the reefs in the late 19th century. In March 1870, the French transport Euryale wrecked there. The crew was marooned on the atoll for 35 days. The captain, Albert des Portes, later became a contre-admiral. His experience helped him chart the island's correct location. In August 1896, the Norwegian ship Seladon also wrecked against the barrier. The crew drifted in lifeboats for 30 days. They eventually reached Niulakita in Tuvalu and lived with natives for 10 months before rescue.

Today, Starbuck Island serves a vital role in environmental protection. It is designated as the Starbuck Island Wildlife Sanctuary. This status helps protect the massive seabird populations. In 2014, the Kiribati government took further steps to protect the area. They established a 12-nautical-mile fishing exclusion zone. This zone covers Starbuck and several other southern Line Islands. These include Caroline, Flint, Vostok, and Malden. These measures help preserve the delicate ecosystem of the central Pacific.