Baker Island, discovered in 1818 by Captain Elisha Folger of the whaling ship Equator, is an uninhabited island located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 3,100 km southwest of Honolulu. The island is almost half way between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbour is Howland Island 68 kilometres to the north. Its defense is the responsibility of the United States; though uninhabited, it is visited annually by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.