Island in the Southern Thule group of the South Sandwich Islands
Cook Island
is the central and largest island of the
Southern Thule
island group, part of the
South Sandwich Islands
in the far south
Atlantic Ocean
. Southern Thule was discovered by a British expedition under Captain
James Cook
in 1775. Cook Island was named for Cook by a Russian expedition under
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
, which explored the South Sandwich islands in 1819?1820.
The island was surveyed in 1930 by
Discovery Investigations
(DI) personnel on
Discovery II
, who charted and named many of its features.
[1]
[2]
Other names were later applied by the
United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee
(UK-APC).
[3]
Geography
[
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]
Cook Island measures about 6 by 3 km (3.7 by 1.9 mi) wide. It is heavily glaciated and uninhabited.
[4]
Its highest peak,
Mount Harmer
, rises to 1,115 m (3,658 ft).
[5]
Mount Holdgate
rises 960 ft (290 m) at the southeast end of the island.
[6]
Working clockwise from the northwest, the following points are found on the island's coast. All were named by DI personnel unless otherwise specified.
Resolution Point is a point on the northwest side of the island, named for Cook's vessel,
HMS
Resolution
.
[1]
Tilbrook Point is a conspicuous cliff forming the northwest point of Cook Island. Named by UK-APC for
Peter J. Tilbrook
, zoologist of the survey of the South Sandwich Islands from
HMS
Protector
in 1964.
[3]
Reef Point is a point bounded by a small reef forming the west end of Cook Island, named descriptively.
[2]
Jeffries Point is on the central part of the south side of the island, named for Miss
M. E. Jeffries
, an assistant to the staff of the
Discovery Committee
.
[7]
Longton Point is a feature of sheer high rock cliffs alternating with steep
icefalls
, forming the southeast corner of the island. It was named by UK-APC for
Royce E. Longton
, botanist of the 1964
Protector
survey.
[8]
It is the southernmost piece of land of the South Sandwich Islands and the southernmost landmass worldwide north of the
60th parallel south
and therefore the southernmost landmass outside of the
Antarctic Treaty System
.
[9]
Swell Point is a small, narrow point on the island's east coast, near its southeast extremity, 1.2 nmi (2.2 km) south of Resolution Point. It was named descriptively.
[10]
Nearby islands
[
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]
Cook Island is separated from
Thule Island
to the west by
Douglas Strait
, and from
Bellingshausen Island
to the east by
Maurice Channel
.
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
Further reading
[
edit
]
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General
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Settlements / Whaling stations
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South Georgia islands
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South Sandwich Islands
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Seamounts
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Landmarks
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This article incorporates
public domain material
from websites or documents of the
United States Geological Survey
.