Maupihaa, also known as
Mopelia, is an
atollAn atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu
OED. Its first recorded use in English was in 1625 as atollon...
in the
Leeward groupThe Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific.-Administration:...
(Iles sous le Vent) of the
Society IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the south Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
. This atoll is located 72 km southeast of
ManuaeThe atoll of Manuae, also known as Scilly, is located approximately 60 km to the northwest of Maupihaa and 255 km to the west of Maupiti, at . It is the westernmost of the Society Islands' Leeward Islands, located 217 mi. west of Bora Bora and 342 mi...
, its nearest neighbor.
Maupihaa atoll is roughly 8 km in length and contains a lagoon that is up to 40 m in depth and is surrounded by submerged reefs on three sides.
The atoll's outer reefs are continuous except for a small passage on the western side of the atoll.
Maupihaa, also known as
Mopelia, is an
atollAn atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu
OED. Its first recorded use in English was in 1625 as atollon...
in the
Leeward groupThe Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific.-Administration:...
(Iles sous le Vent) of the
Society IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the south Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
. This atoll is located 72 km southeast of
ManuaeThe atoll of Manuae, also known as Scilly, is located approximately 60 km to the northwest of Maupihaa and 255 km to the west of Maupiti, at . It is the westernmost of the Society Islands' Leeward Islands, located 217 mi. west of Bora Bora and 342 mi...
, its nearest neighbor.
Geography
Maupihaa atoll is roughly 8 km in length and contains a lagoon that is up to 40 m in depth and is surrounded by submerged reefs on three sides.
The atoll's outer reefs are continuous except for a small passage on the western side of the atoll. The eastern side consists of a narrow, thickly vegetated, islet (Motu Maupihaa) and a number of smaller islets bring the total land area of Maupihaa to 2.6 km². The only village on the atoll is located on Motu Maupihaa and as of 1985, the population consisted of just 10 people.
History
Maupihaa Atoll was inhabited in very ancient times by Polynesians; archaeological remains and fish hooks have been found. The first European to arrive on Maupihaa, along with neighboring
Fenua UraManuae is an uninhabited atoll in the southern group of the Cook Islands, 100 kilometres south-east of Aitutaki. It is administratively part of Aitutaki, but does not belong to any district or tapere of Aitutaki. It is, however, part of Arutanga-Reureu-Nikaupara Constituency.Manuae is a true atoll...
and
Motu OneMotu One is the name of two small sandy islands on the western edge of a coral reef...
, was
Samuel WallisSamuel Wallis was a Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world.Wallis was born near Camelford, Cornwall. In 1766 he was given the command of HMS Dolphin to circumnavigate the world, accompanied by the Swallow under the command of Philip Carteret...
in 1767. In 1917, the atoll was leased to a
PapeetePapeete is the capital of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, of which Papeete is the administrative capital...
company, with three employees making
copraCopra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut.-Production:Coconut oil is traditionally extracted by grating or grinding copra, then boiling it in water. It was long used by Pacific island cultures and became a valuable commercial product for merchants in the South Seas and South Asia in the...
, and raising pigs and chickens and collecting turtles. It was later leased to another copra company and entirely planted with coconut palms.
Also in 1917, Count
Felix von LucknerFelix Graf von Luckner was a German nobleman, navy officer, author and noted sailor who earned the epithet Der Seeteufel -- and his crew that of Die Piraten des Kaisers -- for his exploits in command of the sailing commerce raider SMS Seeadler in...
visited the island and established a small colony, via the SMS
Seeadler, during his voyage to raid Allied shipping in the South Pacific during the First World War. The purpose of the stop was to make repairs to the Seedler's hull after a long journey through the Atlantic ocean and around South America. SMS
Seeadler was too large to enter Mopelia lagoon, therefore she was anchored on the outside of the atoll. After a short time, rough seas and wind caused the Seeadler to run aground on Mopelia's reef, leaving Luckner and about 50 others marooned. Some of the stranded sailors were American POWs captured on the ocean by Luckner's raiders. Eventually Luckner chose a few men and rigged a long boat with a sail to journey about 2000 miles to the
FijiFiji , officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands , is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean east of Vanuatu, west of Tonga and south of Tuvalu. The country comprises an archipelago of about 322 islands, of which 106 are permanently inhabited, and 522 islets...
islands where Luckner intended to capture another sailing ship and go back and rescue the remaining seamen on Mopelia. The plan did not work very well, however, Luckner was able to reach his destination only to surrender to a British lieutenant. Felix von Luckner spent the rest of the Great War as a POW in New Zealand, while the rest of his crew captured a French schooner,
Lutece, which called at Mopelia, and sailed it to
Easter IslandEaster Island ; is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai , created by the early Rapanui people...
arriving on 4 October and running aground there, after which they were interned by the
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an authorities. Four American seamen then sailed an open boat 1600 km to Pago Pago, where they arranged for their colleagues' rescue from Mopelia.
Administration
The atoll is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of
MaupitiMaupiti is a commune of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune is in the administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands....
, itself in the administrative subdivision of the
Leeward IslandsThe Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific.-Administration:...
. Presently Maupihaa is listed as permanently uninhabited.
External links