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Bombay Reef

{{Short description|Atoll in the South China Sea}}

{{About-distinguish-text|the atoll in the Paracel Islands|Bombay Shoal, where the USS Darter was wrecked, which is also in the South China Sea.}}

{{Infobox islands

| disputed = yes

| name = Bombay Reef

| type = atoll

| plural = no

| other_names = {{zh|t=浪花礁|s=浪花礁|p=Lànghuājiāo}}; {{langx|vi|đá Bông Bay}}

| image_name = ParacelIslands.png

| image_caption = Location of Bombay Reef within the Paracel Islands

| pushpin_map = South China Sea

| location = South China Sea

| coordinates = {{coord|16|02|41|N|112|31|06|E|type:isle|display=inline,title}}

| archipelago = Paracel Islands

| length_mi = 10

| length_footnotes =

| country = People's Republic of China

| country1 = Republic of China (Taiwan)

| country2 = Vietnam

}}

Bombay Reef ({{zh|t=浪花礁|s=浪花礁|p=Lànghuājiāo}}, {{langx|vi|đá Bông Bay}}) is an atoll of the Paracel Islands. In Chinese, the reef is alternatively known as "Pengbojiao" ({{zh|s=蓬勃礁|t=蓬勃礁}}), or "Qilianyu(七连屿)" (literally "7 key lago") along with six other islands close by.

Geography

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's Sailing Directions describes Bombay Reef as "the southeasternmost known danger of the Paracel Islands, a steep-to reef 10 miles long E and W that surrounds a rock-strewn lagoon."{{cite enroute|161|2017|11}}

A lighthouse is located on the south-west end of the reef.{{cite web|title=Bombay reef light house|url=http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/es/lightdetails.aspx?light_id=1000022581|publisher=Marine traffic|accessdate=29 October 2013}} It was built by the French in 1980.{{cite rowlett|chnp}}

File:BombayReef.jpg]]

History

In the early hours of 20 December 1946, en route from Hong Kong to Singapore for decommissioning, HMS Aire ran aground on Bombay Reef.{{Cite web | title = HMS Aire, frigate | author = Geoffrey B Mason | work = SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2 | date = 1995 | accessdate = 2016-02-01 | url = http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-15Fr-River-HMS_Aire.htm }} She was spotted by chance, three days later, by the passing {{HMS|Bonaventure|F139|6}} and the 85 crew, amongst them the ship's dog, were rescued with no serious casualties.{{Cite web | title = Shipwrecked in the South China Sea - The loss of HMS Aire | last1 = Drury | first1 = Tony | last2 = Elliott |first2 = Tony | publisher = The Royal Navy Research Archive | date = 2012 | accessdate = 2016-02-01 | url = http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Loss_of_AIRE.htm }} As a {{sclass2|River|frigate}}, HMS Aire was sister ship to the famous superyacht {{ship||Christina O}}.

In early May 1967 the {{convert|87|ft|m|adj=on}}{{Cite magazine | title = What a Way to Start a Day | author = ill Peterson | magazine = All Hands | page = 35 | date = August 1967 | access-date = 2016-02-01 | url = http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196708.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150915043021/http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196708.pdf | archive-date = 2015-09-15 | url-status = dead }} steel sailing schooner Dante Deo, with six men and a six-year-old boy on board,{{Cite news | title = 7 survivors of Lost Schooner Are in Vietnam | newspaper = Lawrence Daily Journal-World | page = 1 | publisher = The World Company | date = 5 May 1967 | accessdate = 2016-02-01 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19670505&id=p8xTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yDgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5927,603456&hl=en }} was wrecked on Bombay Reef.{{Cite magazine | title = The Small World of the Vast Oceans | author = Sid Shaw | periodical = Flying Fish | page = 192 | publisher = Ocean Cruising Club | date = 2014 | accessdate = 2016-02-01 | url = https://www.oceancruisingclub.org/images/FlyingFish/FF2014-1.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160201144524/http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/images/FlyingFish/FF2014-1.pdf | archive-date = 2016-02-01 | url-status = dead | quote = I ended up joining Dante Deo in Bali in February 1967, after working for a year in Sydney. I sailed on her throughout Indonesia, on to Singapore and as far as Bombay Reef in the Paracel Islands, south of Hainan Island, where she was shipwrecked in May 1967. }} The crew were rescued on 5 May 1967 by an amphibious aircraft operated by the 37th Air Rescue Squadron.

Bombay Reef is the site of numerous other shipwrecks, at least one of which is visible above water and on radar from 15 miles away.

Territorial claims

{{main|Nine-dash line|Territorial disputes in the South China Sea}}

Lacking a native population, ownership of the Paracel Islands has been disputed since the early 20th century. In the aftermath of the First Indochina War until 1974 Vietnam occupied Pattle Island, approximately {{convert|60|nmi|km}} away. Control has been enforced by the People's Republic of China since the Battle of the Paracel Islands.

Bombay Reef is administered and governed by the People's Republic of China and patrolled by the Chinese border police.

See also

Notes and references

{{reflist}}

{{South China Sea}}

Category:Baselines of the Chinese territorial sea

Category:Paracel Islands

Category:Reefs of China

{{PRChina-geo-stub}}