Disappointment Island

Disappointment Island is one of seven uninhabited islands in the Auckland Islands archipelago, in New Zealand. It is 475 kilometres (295 mi) south of the country's main South Island and 8 kilometres (5 mi) from the northwest end of Auckland Island. It is home to a large colony of white-capped albatrosses: about 65,000 pairs – nearly the entire world's population – nest there.[1] Also on the island is the Auckland rail, endemic to the archipelago; once thought to be extinct, it was rediscovered in 1966.[2]

For the islands in the Tuamoto Archipelago, see Disappointment Islands.

Disappointment Island
A photo taken of the island in 1909.
Position of the Auckland Islands relative to New Zealand and other outlying islands
Geography
Coordinates50°36.25′S 165°58.38′E
ArchipelagoAuckland Islands
Area3.0 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Length3.35 km (2.082 mi)
Width1.53 km (0.951 mi)
Administration
New Zealand
Demographics
Population0
Pop. density0/km2 (0/sq mi)

History

On 7 March 1907, the Dundonald, a steel, four-masted barque, sank after running ashore on the west side of Disappointment Island. Twelve men drowned and sixteen survivors waited seven months for rescue.[3] They survived on supplies from the castaway depot on Auckland Island.

Etymology

The etymology of Disappointment Island is unclear; however, the naming of islands that lacked resources—such as the Disappointment Islands—may have been a contributing factor in its naming.[4] Or, indeed, the occurrence of frequent shipwrecks.[5]

Important Bird Area

The island is part of the Auckland Island group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because of the significance of the group as a breeding site for several species of seabirds as well as the endemic Auckland shag, Auckland teal, Auckland rail, and Auckland snipe.[6]

gollark: Magic.
gollark: I have some example setups (with an extra chest because they're used as mail) in my base.
gollark: You need to connect it *both* via a CC modem and OC adapter+relay.
gollark: It's probably user error.
gollark: It works fine.

See also

References
  1. BBC – Science and Nature Archived 5 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. Auckland Islands Rail.
  3. Wrecked on the Auckland Islands in 1907.
  4. Evans, Andrew. "A journey to the Disappointment Islands". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  5. Kaushik. "The World's Most Depressing Place Names". Amusing Planet. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  6. BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Auckland Islands. Downloaded from "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) on 2012-01-23.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.