Vauthier Atoll (Rumyantseva)
Vauthier Atoll is a rectangular-shaped atoll in the Marshall Islands. Vauthier consists of 10 closely spaced atolls (about 75 small islets) covered with lush tropical forests. The atoll has an area of 8 km² and its lagoon has an area of 624 km².
General information
Supposedly, Vauthier was first discovered by Europeans on December 26, 1542. It was made by the Spanish traveler Roy Lopez de Vellalobes. In January 1817 and in April 1824, Russian traveler Otto Evstafievich Kotzebu visited Vautier, calling it “Rumyantsev’s Island.”
.Huge defensive structures and artillery positions built by the Japanese during the defense of the islands during World War II, as well as the base of flying boats H8K “Emily”, capable of “reaching” from here as far as the Hawaiian island of Oahu, led during World War II to fierce bombardment of Wotje by the U.S. Navy aircraft. Some of the structures of that time, barely visible from under the dense cover of the jungle, can be found on the atoll Vautier and today.
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In the center of the village of the same name there is a large collection of Japanese military equipment and weapons (many of them are quite capable of moving on their own). The Vauthier Lagoon is also full of traces of the former war, including several ships, including the sunken Bordeaux Maru on February 1, 1942, and several warplanes. The shores of the lagoon are very beautiful and relatively clean. The nearby small islands are even preferable to the main atoll as they are mostly uninhabited and unspoiled, and at low tide many of them are easily accessible on foot.
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