A web site at
http://www.mir.com.my/potpourri/places/mpwong/destination/louisa/
says of Louisa Reef, "The navigation beacon at its southwest point is now
defunct... The sandy patches south and west of the collapsed beacon give
excellent night diving." The map at
http://www.panagadivers.com/Diving/Reefs.htm shows the obelisk in the southwest
of the oval reef, but the obelisk is hardly "collapsed."
The large 2003 photo on the page linked last above clearly shows two other
manmade objects, one in the foreground of the obelisk's base and one to the
right. It is my theory that these are the remains of two collapsed similar
"obelisks" that would have served as piers for a platform supporting the beacon.
I see no way that a single obelisk could have hosted a functioning navigation
beacon. What would have powered it in the middle of the South China Sea? A
platform would have been necessary to support enough solar arrays or other
equipment to power a beacon.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "aletheiak" <aletheiak@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 5:41 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Possible BNCNMYTWVN 5-Country Reef and Obelisk
>
> & the height to breadth ratio of the tapered part of the obelisk has
> apparently diminished substantially between 1993 & 2003
> lending a hair more credence to the guess that it might once
> have been topped by the beacon
> rather than by any standard pyramidal capstone
>
> for who would ever lift a capstone from an obelisk in the sea
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus"
> <mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> > On the page at http://www.panagadivers.com/Diving/Reefs.htm
> , there are 1993 and
> > 2003 photos of the obelisk, and there's a 2002 photo at
> > http://www.psd118.com/pics/Luconia/luconia075.htm .
> Therefore, it's probably
> > not the 1988 Chinese marker that Malaysia "promptly"
> removed.
> >
> > Lowell G. McManus
> > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "aletheiak" <aletheiak@y...>
> > To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 2:15 PM
> > Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Possible BNCNMYTWVN
> 5-Country Reef and Obelisk
> >
> >
> > > i think more likely than a memorial would be someones idea
> of a
> > > territorial marker
> > > functioning perhaps much like a boundary monument
> > > only without any boundary to show for it
> > > or perhaps even more like a stone flagpole & flag
> > >
> > > one source says china placed a marker on louisa reef in
> 1988
> > > & that malaysia then promptly removed it
> > > so presumably that refers to a different marker
> > >
> > > on another hand
> > > the same source said malaysia operated a lighthouse or
> > > beacon there too
> > > but a later source says the light is no longer there
> > >
> > > so perhaps the obelisk was this very beacon
> > > as the pyramidal top one might have expected to see on it is
> now
> > > evidently missing
> > > & there is apparently nothing else there permanently above
> sea
> > > level
> > >
> > > --- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G.
> McManus"
> > > <mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> > > > Do we know the origin of this obelisk? Is it perhaps a
> > > memorial to those
> > > > shipwrecked on the reef?
> > > >
> > > > Lowell G. McManus
> > > > Leesville, Louisiana, USA
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "aletheiak" <aletheiak@y...>
> > > > To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 9:46 AM
> > > > Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: Possible BNCNMYTWVN
> > > 5-Country Reef and Obelisk
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > so our magnificent sunken quinticountry obelisk
> > > > > along with all the other sunken treasure & beauty of
> louisa
> > > reef
> > > > > & of our beloved everyones land in general
> > > > > continue to grow in multidimensionality
> > > > > http://psd118.com/pics/Luconia
>
>
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