Cato Reef

Cato Reef, a part of Cato Bank, is a coral reef in the Coral Sea, off the central coast of Queensland, Australia.

Cato Bank measures approximately 21 by 13 km (13 by 8 mi) with an area of 200 km2 (77 sq mi). Water depth is typically less than 17 m (56 ft). As a part of Cato Bank, Cato Reef measures in at 3.3 by 1.8 km (2.1 by 1.1 mi), with an area of 5 km2 (2 sq mi). It includes a small, shallow lagoon that contains Cato Island, a low-relief cay in the west that is approximately 800 by 300 m (2,600 by 1,000 ft), with an area of 15 hectares (37 acres) and an altitude of 5.8 m (19 ft) . Close to the south-east corner of Cato Bank is Hutchison Rock, with one metre (3 ft) of water over it.

Cato Island (23°15′00″S 155°32′24″E), is a small oval-shaped island lying approximately 375 km (233 mi) east of Gladstone, Queensland, and about 270 km (170 mi) east-southeast of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. This island is approximately 115 km (71 mi) south of Bird Islet, a part of the east end of the Wreck Reefs. The island is a mound of coral debris and grit 5.8 m (19 ft) high, covered in grass and creepers up to 1 m (3 ft) high. An automatic weather station, with two radio masts and a silver-painted hut, stands on the island's northeast end. The island is almost entirely surrounded by reefs; three narrow boat passages cross the reefs on the northern side. The best entrance is the centre one, located 350 metres (1,150 ft) 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 weather. The reef lies on Cato Bank, which falls away steeply on all sides. The coral reefs are built on the top of a large shield volcano, produced by eruptions of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain. Hutchison Rock, at approximately 23.250°S 155.565°E / -23.250; 155.565 (Hutchison Rock - Cato Island), with a depth of perhaps 1 m (3 ft), lies about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) east of Cato Island. 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.

Cato Island, and then Bird Islet, were found by Captain John Park on Cato and Lt. Robert Fowler on HMS Porpoise on 17 August 1803. Porpoise ran aground on Wreck Reef. Matthew Flinders (1814) on Porpoise reported that the cays held many birds, laying eggs from August to October. On 1 April 1821, the whaler Echo was wrecked on the shoal, though her crew was saved. Cato Reef remained a hazard to shipping crossing between Australia and Canton (modern day Guangzhou) or India (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 (ms, 1860) on HMS Herald in 1858–60. The area was visited by increasing numbers of whalers during the off season in New Zealand, in search of the wintering humpback and sperm whales in the middle of the 19th century. Denham reported that in July 1863, the islets had only two or three plants, including a bush 3–4 m (10–13 ft) high, and were frequented by sea turtles weighing 60–100 kg (130–220 lb). On 12 October 1858, Denham reported that Cato Island was more substantial than other cays in the area, measuring 1⁄3 by 1⁄6 mile (0.5 by 0.3 km), rising to 19 feet (5.8 m), and covered in a coarse tufted grass, genus Rottboellia; a creeping plant, Portulaca oleracea; and a sort of buttercup, Lepidium didymum, undermined and fertilised by burrowing mutton birds, the only species that the sailors chose to eat. Dense colonies of gannets, man-of-war birds, boatswain birds, terns and noddies, with eggs and chicks, were abundant. Denham shot a go

Data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).