Right around the end of 1994, a Marshallese interisland freighter ran aground on a lagoon pinnacle marked by a pole bearing the letter "Y." The ship was pulled off after a couple of days. We visited the site in early January, and the upper edge of the eastern slope of the pinnacle was flattened and pure white with dead and broken coral. Rusty metal chunks and streaks were spread over the flattened zone. The pole marking the pinnacle was bent over and completely underwater. We have no photos of the immediate aftermath of the 1994 grounding, but about 20 years later the coral was coming back nicely. There were still a lot of loose rocks and rubble where the ship grounded, but numerous corals were growing up throughout the area. Then in 2015, another interisland freighter ran aground on the same pinnacle and spent another couple of days crushing the coral and starting the entire process over again. The first few shots are from 2010 through 2013, showing the bent marker poles from the 1994 accident and corals growing back.
The sign bearing the letter Y was found later on the pinnacle slope, starting to get buried in corals.
Nice living coral from the edge of the pinnacle.
The 2015 ship grounding pulverized most of the pinnacle's top, turning it into white crushed coral rubble. These photos were from a month or so after the ship was pulled off.
Poles and buoys on other pinnacles have also suffered mishaps. There are a number of sunken buoys and broken poles. This pole on the North Loi pinnacle must have been knocked over long ago.
Here is a pole that is still standing, on a pinnacle directly off Ebeye called R-buoy. It used to be marked by a buoy labeled "R."
Here is a tall pole on a midlagoon pinnacle. While this one is still standing, its predecessor lies on the bottom next to it.
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