Pulap

Pulap
Location of Pulap Atoll in the Pacific Ocean
Landsat picture of Pulap Atoll

Pulap or Pollap, Fanadik is a village and municipality in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia.[1] The main three islands are Pollap in the north of Pollap Atoll, Tamatam in the south and Fanadik at the western fringe of the reef.

It is a small atoll, part of the Pattiw group, located about 140 miles (230 km) to the west of Chuuk.[2]

First recorded sighting of Pulap Atoll was by the Spanish navigator Alonso de Arellano on 17 January 1565 on board of the patache San Lucas.[3] In a Spanish chart of 1879 this atoll appears as Los Martires (The Martyrs in Spanish).[4]

In April 2016 three shipwrecked sailors were rescued from Fanadik after spelling out HELP with palm leaves. They had been stranded for three days after their vessel was overturned by a large wave after departing Pulap island, forcing them to swim two miles to shore at night. They were rescued by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard after a passing plane spotted the message and notified the authorities.[5]

References

  1. Statoids.com, retrieved December 8, 2010
  2. Oceandots - Pulap at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010)
  3. Sharp, Andrew The discovery of the Pacific Islands Oxford, 1960, p. 35–36.
  4. Chart of J. Noguera, Naval Museum of Madrid, LXIX-25.
  5. "Navy rescues 3 castaways who wrote 'help' with palm fronds on deserted island". Fox News Channel. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.

Coordinates: 7°38′18″N 149°25′46″E / 7.6383°N 149.4294°E / 7.6383; 149.4294


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.