[citation needed] The islet has no permanent inhabitants, but because of the beautiful wildlife, there are often temporary visitors from surrounding atolls, such as Puluwat and Satawal, on turtle hunting expeditions.

[citation needed] The first recorded European sighting was by Spanish naval officer Juan Antonio de Ibargoitia commanding the vessel Filipino in 1801.

[5] On May 10, 1979, a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft found a group of between 46 and 50 people on the island when the crew spotted an "SOS" as well as the words "food, water, we need rice" and "three head wounds" carved into the sand.

After being lost for three days, their SOS sign, assembled with palm branches laid out on the beach, was spotted by a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft operated by members of the Hawaii and Pennsylvania Air National Guards, who had departed from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to search for the missing vessel and its crew.

The men were delivered supplies and equipment by an ARH Tiger helicopter from HMAS Canberra as well as a United States Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, and ultimately returned home aboard Micronesian Pacific-class patrol boat FSS Independence.

A U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft, dispatched from Kadena Air Base, Japan, spotted a "HELP" sign made of palm fronds on a beach on April 7, 2024.

The morning of April 9, the mariners were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard personnel from Sentinel-class cutter USCGC Oliver Henry and were subsequently returned to Poluwat.