Booth Island (or Wandel Island) is a rugged,

Y-shape Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shapes are named after a most common object that has it. For example, "U-shape" is a shape that resembles the letter U, a bell-shaped curve has the shape of the vertical ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

, long and rising to off the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula in

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee an ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

in the northeastern part of the

Wilhelm Archipelago The Wilhelm Archipelago is an island archipelago off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica. Wilhelm Archipelago consists of numerous islands, the largest of which are Booth Island and Hovgaard Island. The archipelago extends f ...

. The narrow passage between the island and the mainland is the

Lemaire Channel Lemaire Channel is a strait off Antarctica, between Kyiv Peninsula in the mainland's Graham Land and Booth Island. Nicknamed "Kodak Gap" by some, it is one of the top tourist destinations in Antarctica; steep cliffs hem in the iceberg-filled passa ...

History

The island was discovered and named by a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

expedition under

Eduard Dallmann Eduard Dallmann (11 March 1830 – 23 December 1896) was a German whaler, trader, and Polar explorer. Dallmann was born in Blumenthal, at-the-time a village just to the north of Bremen. He began his adventures as a young sailor at the age of&n ...

1873–74, probably for Oskar Booth or Stanley Booth, or both, members of the

Hamburg Geographical Society (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

at that time. The

Belgian Antarctic Expedition The Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–1899 was the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic region. Led by Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery aboard the RV ''Belgica'', it was the first Belgian Antarctic expedition and is considered the firs ...

of 1897–1899 applied the name "Wandel Island", for Danish

polar explorer This list is for recognised pioneering explorers of the polar regions. It does not include subsequent travelers and expeditions. Polar explorers * Jameson Adams * Stian Aker * Valerian Albanov * Roald Amundsen * Salomon August Andrée * Piotr ...

and hydrographer

Carl Frederick Wandel Carl Frederik Wandel (15 August 1843 – 21 April 1930) was a Danish naval officer and polar explorer. He was largely involved in hydrographic work. Wandel became an officer of the Danish Navy in 1863, rising to the rank of captain in 1892, of ...

, but the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names rejected the name in favor of the earlier Booth Island. The name Wandel was retained for the island's highest point. Although many of the island's features were probably first seen by Dallmann's expedition, the island was not charted in detail until the

Third French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. First expedition In 1772, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec and the naturalist Jean Guillaume Bruguière sailed to the Antarctic region in search of the fabled ...

, 1903–1905. The majority of the island's features were named by expedition leader

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). Life Jean- ...

. The names he gave were generally for expedition members, notable French scientists, or friends and family of Charcot. The

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary time ...

species '' Curnon granulosa'' was first described in 1906 from a single specimen found at 40 m depth at Booth Island.MolluscaBase (2019). MolluscaBase. Curnon granulosa (Vayssière, 1906). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1320723 on 2019-09-05

Geography

Booth Island has an irregular

, with a long narrow peninsula that stretches north off the main body of the island, indented on its west coast by a large bay known as Port Charcot, and a shorter rocky peninsula to the west. It is separated from the mainland to the east by a narrow passage called the

. To the west, Libois Bay separates Booth Island from tiny Cholet Island, and Rallier Channel separates it from

Rallier Island Rallier Island () is a small island with a small islet off its north side, lying 0.25 nautical miles (0.5 km) west of the northwest extremity of Booth Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago. Discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jea ...

Coastal features

Turquet Point marks the north extremity of the island, at the tip of the long narrow peninsula sometimes called the Mount Lacroix peninsula for the large mountain that surmounts it. To the west along the coast is Brouardel Point, a headland north of Port Charcot. Port Charcot indents the northwest shore of Booth Island for at its widest. Charcot established the French expedition's winter base at Port Charcot in 1904. A cairn at Port Charcot, with a wooden pillar and a

plaque Plaque may refer to: Commemorations or awards * Commemorative plaque, a plate or tablet fixed to a wall to mark an event, person, etc. * Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military personnel after World War I * Pl ...

inscribed with the names of the members of the French expedition, has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 28), following a proposal by Argentina to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Along the southern shore of Port Charcot, Vanssay Point marks the extremity of a small peninsula which extends north into the water of the port. To the west, Français Cove, named for one of Charcot's ships, indents the south shore of Port Charcot. A small island, Sögen Island, forms the east side of Francais Cove. Paumelle Point marks the south side of the entrance to Libois Bay and the northwest end of the peninsula that forms the west extremity of the island. The end of the rocky western peninsula is indented by a small cove called Roland Bay, whose south end is marked by Hervéou Point, the western extremity of the peninsula. Salpêtrière Bay indents the south coast of the western peninsula for between Hervéou Point, and Poste Point to the east. Charcot named the bay for the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, a Paris hospital where his father, neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, founded a clinic. Roullin Point marks the island's southern tip.

Inland features

Mount Lacroix is a prominent mountain with red vertical cliffs and a rounded summit, high, surmounting the island's northeast peninsula. It was named by Charcot after French mineralogist

Alfred Lacroix Antoine François Alfred Lacroix (4 February 186312 March 1948) was a French mineralogist and geologist. He was born in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire. Education Lacroix completed a D. s Sc. in Paris in 1889, as student of Ferdinand André Fouqué. F ...

. Cléry Peak is a peak on the north side of Mount Lacroix. There are several high peaks on the north–south trending ridge of the island. Mount Guéguen is a sharp rocky peak, high overlooking Port Charcot at the north end of the main body of the island. About to the south is Jeanne Hill, standing high and named for Charcot's sister. About to the south of that is Louise Peak, which stands high. Standing south is Gourdon Peak. Approximately south of Gourdon is the highest point of the island, Wandel Peak, which stands high. In 2003, Australian mountaineer

Damien Gildea Damien Gildea (born 1969) is an Australian mountaineer and Antarctic explorer who has climbed extensively in Antarctica, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Bolivia, Alaska, New Zealand and elsewhere. Mountaineering His Antarctic ascents include Mount Vinso ...

called it "one of the most challenging unclimbed objectives on the Antarctic Peninsula". On 15 February 2006 the peak was reached by a group of Spanish alpinists, who still avoided the last of the mushroomlike top.

References

External links