La Perouse Pinnacle

La Perouse Pinnacle is a volcanic pinnacle located in the French Frigate Shoals[1] about midway in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands approximately three miles (4.8 km) west southwest of East Island, Hawaii.[2] It is the oldest and most remote volcanic rock in the Hawaiian Islands. La Perouse Pinnacle stands 120 ft (37 m) tall. It is surrounded by coral reefs and a shorter, rocky islet about 5–10 feet (1.5–3.0 m) tall. Because of its distinctive shape, the pinnacle can be mistaken for a ship from a distance.

La Perouse Pinnacle
La Perouse Pinnacle

It has been called a "volcanic rock islet" and is known for its central position in the French Frigate Shoals between north and south sides of atoll.[3] The pinnacle is visible from a distance of about eight miles (13 km) away at sea.[4]

The rock is named for Comte de La Pérouse, who came across the shoals in 1786.[5][6]

The pinnacle is composed mainly of very hard volcanic type rock, and the island is thought to be the remains of a volcano from millions of years ago.[6]

In 1923 on the Tanager expedition it was visited and determined to be olivine basalt rock.[7]

The pinnacle's resemblance to a sailing ship at distance nearly caused the wrecking of the sailing ship Rebecca in the 19th century. The whaling ship Rebecca sighted the pinnacle at nightfall, but mistook it for a sailing ship and tried to signal with it. When the signals were not returned the Rebecca headed towards the ship to investigate, but soon ran into the reef. The ship survived the encounter with shoals, and was able to ascertain the nature of the pinnacle in the morning.[8]

The pinnacle was a noted landmark by sailor's conducting a search for a lost sailor in the late 2010s, and was noted in an article in the sailing magazine Cruising World in 2018.[9]

References
  1. "La Perouse Pinnacle". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  2. NOAA Chart 19401
  3. Sailing Directions for the Pacific Islands (Eastern Groups): Volume II. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940.
  4. Sailing Directions for the Pacific Islands (Eastern Groups): Volume II. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940.
  5. "French Frigate Shoals". Archived from the original on 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  6. "Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument".
  7. Amerson, A. Binion (1971). "The natural history of French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands" (PDF). Atoll Research Bulletin. 150: 1–383. doi:10.5479/SI.00775630.150.1. S2CID 129044723. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-01.
  8. Rosser, W. H. (1870). North Pacific Pilot, Part II: The Seaman's Guide to the Islands of the North Pacific. London: James Imray & Son. p. 55.
  9. Cruising World - Searching for a Lost Sailor 2018
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23°46′09″N 166°15′39″W


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