Tower Island is an

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

island long and high. It marks the north-east extent of

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers ...

. It lies north-east of

Trinity Island Trinity Island or Île de la Trinité or Isla Trinidad is an island long and wide in the northern part of the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. It lies east of Hoseason Island, south of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, and nor ...

, separated by

Gilbert Strait Gilbert Strait () is a strait between Trinity Island and Tower Island in the Palmer Archipelago. The strait was named by a British expedition 1828–31, under Foster, for Davies Gilbert, President of the Royal Society from 1827–30, and of the com ...

. Both islands are separated from the

Davis Coast Davis Coast () is that portion of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Kjellman and Cape Sterneck. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Captain John Davis, the American sealer who claimed to have mad ...

to the south by

Orléans Strait Orléans Strait is a strait running NE-SW and separating Trinity Island and Tower Island from Davis Coast, Antarctic Peninsula. Possibly first seen by Nathaniel B. Palmer, captain of the Hero, on November 18, 1820. Named and outlined in part by t ...

, running northeast–southwest. The Pearl Rocks lie off the West Coast of Tower Island. The island was named on 30 January 1820 by Edward Bransfield,

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, who described it as a round island.

Named features

A number of features on Tower Island have been charted and named by various Antarctic expeditions. The following description of features begins from the north and proceeds clockwise along the coast to the east.

East coast

The northernmost point of the island is called Cape Leguillou. It was charted by a French expedition under Captain

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

, 1837–40, and named by him for Élie Le Guillou, a surgeon on the expedition corvette . The name has been consistently used since that time. Ploski Cove ( bg, залив Плоски, ‘Zaliv Ploski’ \'za-liv 'plo-ski\), named after the village of Ploski in Bulgaria, is located to the east of the cape. It is and indents the coast by . Traverso Point forms the coast's southeastern edge. Harmanli Cove ( bg, залив Харманли, zaliv Harmanli, ) is a cove on the eastern cove of Tower Island. It indents the coast to a depth of . The cove is named after the town of

Harmanli Harmanli ( bg, Харманли , tr, Harmanlı) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Harmanli Municipality. Near the site of Hamanli in Late Antiquity, during the early 4th- ...

in southeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. To the south is Cape Dumoutier, the eastern tip of Tower Island. It was named by d'Urville's expedition for Pierre Dumoutier, a surgeon with the expedition. Continuing south is Breste Cove, which is wide and deep. It is named for the settlement of Breste in northern

. South of that is Castillo Point. Condyle Point is the southeast point of the island. It was named by the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

(UK-APC). The name is descriptive of the shape of this feature: a condyle is the rounded prominence at the end of a

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

. The southernmost point of the island is Peña Point.

West coast

Ustina Point ( bg, нос Устина, 'Nos Ustina' \'nos 'us-ti-na\) is a rocky point on the island's west coast. The point is named after the settlement of Ustina in southern

. It is situated 2.6 km northwest of Peña Point. Closer to the north end of the island, Kranevo Point ( bg, нос Кранево, ‘Nos Kranevo’ \'nos 'kra-ne-vo\), named for the Bulgarian village of

Kranevo Kranevo ( bg, Кранево) is a coastal village on the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, part of Balchik Municipality, Dobrich Province. It is located in the historical region of Southern Dobruja. Between 1913 and 1940 it was part of Romania ...

, forms the south side of the entrance to Mindya Cove. Mindya Cove, named for Mindya, Bulgaria, is cove indenting the island's northwest coast for .

Coastal rock groups

Dumoulin Rocks The Dumoulin Rocks () are a group of rocks 4 nautical miles (7 km) northeast of Cape Leguillou, the northern tip of Tower Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. The French expedition under Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1837–40, applied the na ...

Kendall Rocks The Kendall Rocks () are a group of pillar-shaped rocks, lying north of Tower Island in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. The name "Kendall Group" appears northwest of this position on a chart based upon work by a British expedition under Comman ...

* Pearl Rocks

References

External links

SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer

Trinity Peninsula.
Scale 1:250000 topographic map No. 5697. Institut für Angewandte Geodäsie and British Antarctic Survey, 1996. {{USGS Islands of the Palmer Archipelago