Erikub Atoll

Erikub Atoll in the Marshall Islands

Erikub Atoll in the Marshall Islands

FACT FILE

Number of islets: 14 Population: n/a Land area: 0.59 sq. miles Lagoon area: 88.92 sq. miles

Erikub Atoll in the Marshall Islands is used by the people of nearby Wotje to collect food.

History according to WikipediaFirst recorded sighting by Europeans of Erikub Atoll was on 29 June 1566 by the Spanish galleon San Jerónimo then commanded by pilot Le Martínop. It is however likely that it had already been sighted previously by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos in between December 1542 and January 1543. Pilot Lope Martín who had been pilot of the patache San Lucas on its voyage from New Spain to the Philippines the previous year, had in this occasion mutineed with a gang of twenty six sailors and soldiers and murdered the San Jerónimo’s captain, Pero Sánchez Pericón. The conspirators, including Martín would be later marooned in the Namonuito Atoll.