Cato Reef
Encyclopedia
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the northeast coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands...
off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
that is of approximately 21 km by 13 km of this 200 km² area, where depth of water is typically less than 17 m. Upon Cato Bank Cato Reef encircles an area of 3.3 km by 1.8 km, area 5 km² including a small shallow lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
which contains Cato Island, a low-relief cay
Cay
A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...
in the west that is approximately 650 by 300 m, area 1.5 km², 6 m high. Close to the southeast corner of Cato Bank is Hutchison Rock, with 1 m depth over it.
General
Cato Island 23°15′S 155°32′E, is a small oval-shaped island lying about approximately 375 km east of Gladstone, QueenslandGladstone, Queensland
- Education :Gladstone has several primary schools, three high schools, and one university campus, Central Queensland University. It is also home to CQIT Gladstone Campus.- Recreation :...
and about 270 km east-southeast of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
. This island is approximately 115 km south of Bird Islet, part of the east end of Wreck Reefs
Wreck Reefs
The Wreck Reefs are located in the southern part of the Coral Sea Islands approximately 450 km East Nor East of Gladstone, Queensland or 250 km east of the Swain Reefs complex they form a narrow chain of reefs with small cays that extends for around 25 km in a west to east lineIslets...
The island is a mound of coral debris and grit 5.8m high covered in grass and creepers up to 1m high . An automatic weather station, with two radio masts and a silver-painted hut, stands on the north-east end of the island. The island is almost entirely surrounded by reefs: there are three narrow boat passages through the reefs on the northern side. The best entrance is the center one, located 350 meters north of the eastern end of Cato Island; it has a conspicuous rock at half tide on its Eastern side
The island lies on the western end of an oval-shaped reef enclosing a lagoon. The lagoon contains numerous coral heads. The sea breaks over the reef in all weathers. The reef lies on Cato Bank, which falls away steeply on all sides.
Hutchison Rock 23°15′S 155°36′E, with a depth of 5.5m, lies 3.5 km East of Cato Reef.
Danger Patch lies near the outer end of the Eastern ledge of Cato Bank. A tidal race is found between the Eastern end of Cato Reef and Danger Patch.
Early reports
Cato Island, and then Bird Islet, were found by Captain John Park in the Indiaman Cato (ship)Cato (ship)
The Cato was a ship of 430 tons constructed at Stockton in England and registered in London to Reeve & Green. It was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, in 1804....
and Lt. Robert Fowler in HMS Porpoise (1799)
HMS Porpoise (1799)
HMS Porpoise was a 10-gun sloop originally built in Bilbao, Spain, as the packet ship Infanta Amelia. She was 308 tons, 93ft long on the gun deck and a beam of 27ft, 11 inches. On 6 August 1799 HMS Argo captured her off the coast of Portugal...
on 17 August 1803. The latter ran aground on Wreck Reef. Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
(1814) on the Porpoise reports that all the cays held many birds, laying in the period August–October
Cato Reef continued to present a hazard to shipping plying between Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
(moden day Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
) or India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(where cargo was collected on the way home from Australia to Europe). In due course the southern reefs were surveyed by Captain H. M. Denham
Henry Mangles Denham
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham, CMG was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.-Early career:...
(ms, 1860) in the HMS Herald
HMS Herald
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Herald:* The first Herald was an 18-gun ship sloop launched in 1806, re-classed as a 20-gun Sixth Rate in 1810 and 24-gun in 1817, and broken up in 1817....
in 1858-60
The area was also visited by increasing numbers of whalers during the off season in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, in search of the many wintering Humpback Whale
Humpback Whale
The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
s and fewer Sperm Whales in the middle of the 19th century . Denham reported that in July 1863 the islets only had two or three plants, including a bush 3–4 m high, and were frequented by sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
s weighing 60–100 kg
On 12 October 1858 Denham reported that Cato Island was more substantial than other cays in the area, measuring ⅓ by 1/6 miles, rising to 19 ft, and covered in coarse tufted grass,Rottboilla; a creeping plant, Nyctagin portulaca; and a sort of buttercup Senebiera crucifera, undermined and fertilised by burrowing mutton birds, the only species that the sailors wished to eat. There were dense colonies of gannet
Gannet
Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
s, man-of-war birds and boatswain birds, tern
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...
s and noddies, with eggs and chicks, and he shot a godwit
Godwit
The godwits are a group of large, long-billed, long-legged and strongly migratory wading birds of the genus Limosa. They form large flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter....
and a brace of plover
Plover
Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...
s. There were records of repeated visits by whalers but now only one Humpback was reported offshore. Rayner also recorded a Limosa, Charadrius, Strepsilas interpres, and a land rail
Corn Crake
The Corn Crake, Corncrake or Landrail is a bird in the rail family. It breeds in Europe and Asia as far east as western China, and migrates to Africa for the winter...
. When they returned with plants from the Percy Isles and seeds from Sydney to provide succour for castaways in August, 1859, Denham again reported that the birds formed a cloud hovering 60 feet above the island, though “a few visits like ours would tend to check the accumulation in proportion to each boat bringing off upwards of 100 dozen eggs at a three hours gleaning!”
Guano mining
On 27 October 1862, the British government granted an exclusive concession to exploit the guanoGuano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
on Lady Elliot Island, Wreck Reefs, Swain Reefs, Raine Island, Bramble Cay, Brampton Shoal, and Pilgrim Island to the Anglo-Australian Guano Company organised by the whaler, Dr. W.L. Crowther in Hobart, Tasmania. They were apparently most active on Bird Islet (Wreck Reefs
Wreck Reefs
The Wreck Reefs are located in the southern part of the Coral Sea Islands approximately 450 km East Nor East of Gladstone, Queensland or 250 km east of the Swain Reefs complex they form a narrow chain of reefs with small cays that extends for around 25 km in a west to east lineIslets...
) and Lady Elliot and Raine Islands, losing five ships at Bird Islet between 186l and 1882 .
The Daily Southern Cross, 19 September 1863, reported on page 2 that the following memorandum, enclosed in a bottle, was picked up by Captain Harris, of the Caroline, which arrived in Hobson's Bay during Wednesday night, with a cargo of guano from Cato Island, and was found on the Cato Bank:- "June 25, 1863 - Prince Edward, of Auckland, Geo. Cook, master, 7 weeks from Bay of Islands, 80 sperm, 6 of blackfish. All well. - Argus,August 26.
Dockenhuden
Dockenhuden 3 August 1853. Cato Reef Ship German ship, from Melbourne to Bombay, missed stays when off Cato Reef and having no room to wear, struck the reef and became a total wreck. The crew spent 15 days repairing the ship's boats before leaving for Moreton Bay, which was reached on 27 August.Thomas King
Thomas King A Barque of 346 tons. Built for the West Indian sugar run, then taken to Australia for the gold rush. Captain J.H. Walker. With a crew shanghaied with the help of local police, because the original crew from England had deserted for the gold fields, left Sydney on 4 April 1852 for the Philippines and China with a cargo of sugar and spirits. wrecked on a reef east of Cato Reef, Queensland, 17 April 1852. The Barque Struck reef and became total wreck. Some of her boats were washed away. A boat set out for the mainland to seek help, leaving survivors on the reef. After 14 days they were rescued by the whaler Lady Blackwood. The other boat eventually made Double Island Bay, but when the occupants set out overland for Moreton Bay they were tracked down and killed by aborigines all but the captain and one seaman were killed. When lost, THOMAS KING carried 3,500 Pounds worth of specie, and 8,000 Pounds worth of gold dustAt the time of sailing it was reported that the gold aboard the Thomas King, consisted of
212 ounces owned by L. and S. Spyer.
220 ounces 8 penny weights 12 grains owned A. and M. Moses.
Giving a total total of 432 ounces 8 penny weights 12 grains or 13.45 kg of Gold