Cato Reef

Cato Reef is a coral reef in the Coral Sea off the central Queensland coast of Australia, about 375 kilometers east of Gladstone, built up on Cato Bank, a shield volcano of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain roughly 21 by 13 kilometers across. The reef proper measures about 3.3 by 1.8 kilometers, covering some 5 square kilometers with depths generally under 17 meters, and encloses a lagoon containing Cato Island, a low sand cay about 800 by 300 meters with an automated weather station; Hutchison Rock lies a further 3.5 kilometers to the east. Charted in the 1850s and 1860s after its 1803 discovery, the reef proved a hazard on shipping routes between Australia and Asia, wrecking vessels in 1852 and 1853, and it drew whalers and guano miners during the 19th century.