Johannesen Point
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Johannesen Point
OR:
Johannesen Point on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Willis Islands are a small archipelago to the west of South Georgia Island in the
South Georgia Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...
. They are west of Bird Island, separated by the
Stewart Strait Stewart Strait () is a strait 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) wide between Bird Island, South Georgia, Bird Island and the Willis Islands, off the west end of South Georgia Island, South Georgia. The strait was navigated and charted by Captain James ...
. They were discovered on 14 January 1775 by Captain
James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
and named for Cook's midshipman Thomas Willis, the crew member who first sighted them. The Willis Islands were charted in greater detail and individually named by Discovery Investigations (DI) personnel between 1926-1930.


Geography


Main Island

The archipelago's largest island is called Main Island, so-named because at long and high, it is the principal island in the group. Its southwestern point is called Johannesen Point, originally "All Johannesens Point," likely by DI personnel. Following a survey of the island in 1951–52, the South Georgia Survey (SGS) reported that the cumbersome name was seldom used locally. On that basis, the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) recommended the present shortened form of the name.


West and south of Main Island

West of Main Island are several named rocks, groups of rocks, and shoals. Acorn Rock rises above sea level, northwest of Main Island. The descriptive name was applied during a hydrographic survey from in 1960–61. northwest of Main Island is Holgate Shoal, an area of
shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...
s named by the UK-APC for Able Seaman
Ralph A. Holgate Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...
of the ''Owen'', which charted the shoal in 1961. A pair of rocks named the Tiger Rocks are located west of Main Island, southwest of the shoal. The descriptive name was applied during the surveys from the ''Owen''. The westernmost point of the Willis Islands is a group of three barren rocks called the Ramp Rocks, northwest of Johannesen Point on Main Island. The largest of them was originally called ''laavebrua'' ("threshing floor ramp") by Norwegian whalers, but to avoid confusion with Låvebrua Island, UK-APC named the trio the Ramp Rocks. west-southwest of the south end of Main Island is a small group of rocks named the Bryde Rocks. Positioned by the SGS between 1951–57, the group was named by UK-APC for
Thorleif Bryde The Germanic first name Thorleif (which means ''son of Thor'') with variants Torleif (Swedish), Thorleiv/Torleiv (Norwegian) and Þorleif (Icelandic) may refer to: Torleif *Torleif Torkildsen (1892–1944), Norwegian gymnast and Olympian Torle ...
, a gunner of the
South Georgia Whaling Co South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
. Pugh Shoal is an area of shoal south of Main Island, named by UK-APC for Able Seaman Peter J. Pugh of the ''Owen'', which charted this shoal in 1961.


East of Main Island

Heron Passage separates Main Island from Vaughan Island close to the east, and Trinity Island to the northeast. The existence of the passage was first reported in the 1930s, and confirmed by HMS ''Owen'' during a hydrographic survey of the area in 1961. It was named by UK-APC after one of the ''Owen'''s survey motor boats, the ''Heron''. Vaughan Island is a small, conical
tussock Tussock may refer to: * Tussock grass, a group of species in the family Poaceae *Floating island * Lymantriinae, called tussock moths or tussocks See also * Hassock (disambiguation) Hassock may refer to: * Kneeler, a cushion or a piece of f ...
-covered island close east of Main Island. It was named by UK-APC for Lieutenant Commander
Hugh L.F. Vaughan Hugh may refer to: * Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...
, Royal Navy, First Lieutenant of the ''Owen''. The much larger Trinity Island was so-named by DI because it has three peaks. To the southeast are a pair of small tussock-covered islands called the Verdant Islands, descriptively named "Verdant Island" by DI. The name was amended in 1985 to reflect that there were actually two islands there. To the east is Hall Island, small, steep-sided, and tussock-covered. It was named by UK-APC after Commander
Geoffrey P.D. Hall Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...
of the Royal Navy,
Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of the ''Owen''. The easternmost island in the group is Proud Island, a small, relatively high, tussock-covered island, rising to a peak at its northern end. It was descriptively named by UK-APC, the expression "standing proud" in naval parlance being the equivalent of "sticking up."


Fauna

The Willis Islands are a significant breeding ground for Antarctic fur seals.


See also

*
Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...
* List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands ** List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S * Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) * Territorial claims in Antarctica


References


Further reading

* Stonehouse, B (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans'' (2002, ) {{SGSSI Islands of South Georgia Uninhabited islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands