Blenheim Reef

Blenheim Reef is a partly submerged atoll structure in the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean.

The present name comes from the ship Blenheim which discovered the reef on 5 May 1836 during a voyage from London to Bombay (see letter from James Temple Brown to the Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle for 1837).

Around 1880, the Indian Ocean Fruit Company attempted to plant palm trees on the island, but all seedlings were washed into the sea during a storm.

The Foreign Office opinion was that the reef was not British territory and could never be, but wanted no publicity which might suggest the idea to other countries.

[2] In February 2022, Mauritius made a fifteen day expedition to survey the legally unclaimed reef, to discover if it is exposed at high tide so that it is claimable.