Pocklington Reef

Lore & Background

The reef was discovered and named by the captain of the Sydney whaler Pocklington in 1825. HMS Renard under Lieutenant G.E. Richards surveyed it in 1880 and noted no anchorage around its perimeter. Before Papua New Guinea achieved sovereignty in 1975, it was decided the reef should be part of the new nation.

Several vessels have been wrecked on the atoll. The Brig Reindeer was lost on 26 September 1855; all 19 crew survived after nine days on a rock outcrop and reached Port Curtis after 42 days at sea. The Earl of Hardwick wrecked on 10 June 1862, and the Guinevere struck on 4 September 1874. The Japanese ship Amigi Maru ran aground during a cyclone in May 1972. In April 1974, the Soviet vessel Fedor Litke spent a week at a sandbank, and an Australian naval vessel later found a concealed electronic monitoring device there. Illegal drugs worth $30 million were hidden in a wreck on the reef in 1978.

Reader's Guide

Pocklington Reef's significance lies in its remote location and layered history. It is a mostly submerged atoll with a deep lagoon, isolated by deep water and relatively pristine. Its discovery in 1825 by a whaling captain and subsequent surveys by HMS Renard established its navigational hazards. The reef has been a site of numerous shipwrecks, including the Brig Reindeer (1855), Earl of Hardwick (1862), Guinevere (1874), and Amigi Maru (1972), each contributing to maritime lore. The 1974 Soviet vessel incident and the 1978 drug cache highlight its use for covert activities. The reef was politically designated part of Papua New Guinea before independence in 1975. A Taiwanese fishing vessel was caught illegally fishing in 1979, and sports fishing occurs there. A proposed marine protected area, Pocklington Reef Marine Park, underscores its ecological value.