Disappointment Island

Not to be confused with Disappointment Islands.
Disappointment Island

Position relative to New Zealand and other outlying islands
Geography
Coordinates 50°36.25′S 165°58.38′E / 50.60417°S 165.97300°E / -50.60417; 165.97300
Archipelago Auckland Islands
Area 3.0 km2 (1.2 sq mi)
Length 3.45 km (2.144 mi)
Width 1.35 km (0.839 mi)
Country
New Zealand
Demographics
Population Uninhabited

Disappointment Island (50°36.25′S 165°58.38′E / 50.60417°S 165.97300°E / -50.60417; 165.97300) is one of seven uninhabited islands in the Auckland Islands archipelago. It is 8 kilometres (5 mi) from the northwest end of Auckland Island and 290 kilometres (180 mi) south of New Zealand. It is home to a colony of white-capped albatrosses. About 65,000 pairs - nearly the entire world 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]

History

On 14 May 1866, the General Grant, a full-rigged ship of 1,103 tons, crashed into the towering cliffs on the west coast of Auckland Island. Sixty-eight passengers died. Fifteen survivors made their way to the island, where they waited eighteen months for rescue.[3]

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.[4] They survived on supplies from the castaway depot on Auckland Island.

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.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ BBC - Science and Nature.
  2. ↑ Auckland Islands Rail.
  3. ↑ GOLD, SUNKEN. 'from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 18 September 2007.
  4. ↑ Wrecked on the Auckland Islands in 1907.
  5. ↑ BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Auckland Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-01-23.
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