Île Tabor

The Maria Theresa Reef is a supposed reef in the South Pacific (south of the French Tuamotu islands and east of New Zealand); it appears to be a phantom reef. It is also known as Tabor Island or Tabor Reef on French maps. Bernhard Krauth explains that Tabor/Maria Theresa's existence was reported in three contemporary newspapers as a dangerous reef seen on 16 November 1843 by a Captain Asaph P. Taber (not "Tabor") of the Maria-Theresa, a New Bedford, Massachusetts, whaler, to be situated at , later adjusted to . According to Krauth, who makes, however, several mistakes, the logbook of the Maria Theresa may read "Saw breakers." This means that the Captain recorded simply that he saw "breakers," which are sections of reef against which waves break, thus signaling that an island or system of reefs is near. Krauth further claims that Tabor would be in French waters if it existed. Jean-Paul Faivre reports that map no. 5356 of the (French) Naval Hydrographic Office and the folding map in "Malte-Brun revised by E. Cortambert, vol. 4" (without further reference) both mark "Maria-Theresa," apparently 153 degrees W of Greenwich, and that no. 5356 also marks Ernest Legouve Reef. Hugh Cassidy, discussing his escapades, claims that "A nautical chart... issued by the W. Faden Company, Oceanographers to the King [George III], in 1817 lists Maria Theresa." The shoal also apparently appears in US Hydrographic Office chart no. 2683 (1978), together with others in the vicinity. Tabor was unsuccessfully searched for in 1957. New Zealand's HMNZS Tui made an extensive search of the area in the 1970s and found no shallows or islands. The depths in the region were shown to be 2,734 fathoms (5,000 m). In 1983, the position of the reef was recalculated at , more than 1,000 km further east, and searched for, but not found. Its existence is doubtful. In 1966 amateur radio journal "CQ" published a photo and description of Don Miller transmitting from what he claimed was Maria Teresa Reef. This has been since proven to be a hoax.