Elephant Island

Not to be confused with Elephanta Island or Elephantine Island.

Elephant

Nickname: No Nickname
Map of Elephant Island, Antarctica
Geography
Location	Antarctica
Coordinates	61°08′S 55°07′W
Archipelago	South Shetland Islands
Area	558 km2 (215.4 sq mi)
Length	47 km (29.2 mi)
Width	27 km (16.8 mi)
Highest elevation	853 m (2,799 ft)
Highest point	Pardo Ridge
Country
Antarctica
Largest city	Point Wild (historic camp)
Demographics
Population	0 (as of 2010)
Density	0.00 /km2 (0 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	None
Additional information
Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System

Elephant Island

Location of Elephant Island

Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean. Its name was given by early explorers sighting elephant seals on its shores. It lies 1,253 kilometres (779 mi) west-southwest of South Georgia, 935 kilometres (581 mi) south of the Falkland Islands, and 885 kilometres (550 mi) southeast of Cape Horn. It is within the Antarctic claims of Argentina, Chile and the UK. Brazil has two refuges on the island, Goeldi and Wiltgen, supporting the work of up to six researchers each during the summer.

Geography

Map of the group of Island

The island is approximately an east to west orientation, with a maximum elevation of 2,799 ft (853 m) above sea level at Pardo Ridge. Significant named features of the island are Cape Yelcho, Cape Valentine and Cape Lookout at its northeastern and southernmost extremes, and Point Wild, a spit of land on its northern coast. The Endurance Glacier is the main discharge glacier on the island.

Elephant Island seen from the sea, NOAA photo

The island supports no significant flora or native fauna although migratory Gentoo penguins and seals may be found on its shores, and Chinstrap penguins nest there in season. A lack of safe anchorage has prevented any permanent human settlements being formed, despite the island being well placed to support scientific, fishing and whaling activities in the area.

Elephant Island’s name can be attributed to both its elephant head-like appearance and the sighting of elephant seals by Captain George Powell in 1821, one of the earliest sightings of the island. Its weather is normally foggy with much snow. Additionally, winds can reach speeds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) on the frigid island.

Endurance expedition

Main article: Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Approaching Elephant Island (1962 photograph)

The route of the James Caird to South Georgia

Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island, April 24, 1916

The island is most famous as the desolate refuge of Ernest Shackleton and his crew in 1916. Following the loss of their ship Endurance in Weddell Sea ice, the 28 exhausted men reached Elephant Island after a harrowing ordeal on drifting ice floes. They established a camp at a place they called Point Wild where they were able to regain some strength.

Realizing that there was no chance of rescue by any passing ships, Shackleton decided to travel to South Georgia where he knew there was a whaling station. In one of the most incredible feats in the history of sailing and navigation, Shackleton sailed off with five other men on an 800-mile (1,287 km) voyage in the open lifeboat James Caird on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, arriving at South Georgia almost two weeks later. His second in command, John Robert Francis “Frank” Wild remained in charge of the 21 other men on Elephant Island for more than four months while Shackleton led attempts to return with a rescue ship. In his memoir Wild recalled “We gave them three hearty cheers and watched the boat getting smaller and smaller in the distance. Then seeing some of the party in tears, I immediately set them all to work.”

Indeed, there was much work for the stranded party. Because the island had no natural source of shelter, they constructed a shack and wind blocks from their remaining two lifeboats and pieces of canvas tents. Blubber lamps were used for lighting. Expedition physicist Reginald James composed the following verses out of gratitude for Wild's leadership:

My name is Frankie Wild-o.

Me hut's on Elephant Isle.

The wall's without a single brick

And the roof's without a tile.

Nevertheless I must confess,

By many and many a mile,

It's the most palatial dwelling place

You'll find on Elephant Isle.

They hunted for penguins and seals, neither of which were plentiful during the autumn and winter months. The crew, many of whom were already ill and frost-bitten, were now also in danger of starvation. After four and a half months of waiting, one of the stranded men spotted a ship on August 30, 1916. The ship, led by Shackleton, was the borrowed tug boat Yelcho, from Punta Arenas, Chile, commanded by Luis Pardo, which broke through the ice surrounding the island to finally rescue all of the men who set out on the original expedition.

According to Frank Worsley, Shackleton's captain, the men pronounced the island with a silent 't' and an 'h' prefixed, which makes it into Hell-of-an-Island.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica

Bibliography

• Antarctica. Sydney: Reader's Digest, 1985.
• Child, Jack. Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988.
• Mericq, Luis. Antarctica: Chile's Claim. Washington: National Defense University, 1987.
• Pinochet de la Barra, Oscar. La Antarctica Chilena. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1976.
• Stewart, Andrew, Antarctica: An Encyclopedia. London: McFarland and Co., 1990 (2 volumes).
• "Elephant Island - An Antarctic Expedition" by Author Chris Furse, published by Anthony Nelson Ltd, 7 St. John's Hill Shrewsbury SY1 1JE Salop England, ISBN 0-904614-02-6