Visokoi Island is an uninhabited island in the

Traversay Islands The Traversay Islands ( es, Archipiélago Marqués de Traverse) are a group of three islands— Zavodovski, Leskov and Visokoi—at the northern end of the South Sandwich Islands. History The group was discovered in November 1819 by a Russian ...

group of the

South Sandwich 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 ...

. It was discovered in 1819 by a Russian expedition under

Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen (russian: Фадде́й Фадде́евич Беллинсга́узен, translit=Faddéy Faddéevich Bellinsgáuzen; – ) was a Russian naval officer, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately ...

, who initially named the island Thorson Island in honor of Lieutenant , though the tsarist government later renamed the island Visokoi ("high"), after its conspicuous height, in response to Thorson's participation in the

Decembrist revolt The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...

. The island was surveyed in 1930 by

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, wh ...

(DI) personnel, who charted and named many of its features. Several of the names given by DI were changed in 1953 by the

United Kingdom 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) to avoid redundancy with nearby features.

Geography

The island is long and wide, capped by

Mount Hodson Mount Hodson is an ice-covered stratovolcano and the highest point on Visokoi Island, South Sandwich Islands. It might have erupted in 1830 and 1930, and the summit usually steams. Named after Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson (1881-1944), Governor of ...

, a volcanic peak (). The peak is named after Sir

Arnold Weinholt Hodson Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson (12 February 1881 – 26 May 1944)"Sir Arnold Hodson"
Geni.com. ...

, a governor of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

. The island has a strong smell of

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

ous fumes. The island is surrounded by an underwater

shelf Shelf ( : shelves) may refer to: * Shelf (storage), a flat horizontal surface used for display and storage Geology * Continental shelf, the extended perimeter of a continent, usually covered by shallow seas * Ice shelf, a thick platform of ice f ...

that extends out approximately , at a depth of approximately . Finger Point marks the island's northern tip. It was named descriptively by DI in 1930. Wordie Point is the south-west point of the island. DI personnel named it for Scottish geologist and polar explorer

James Wordie Sir James Mann Wordie CBE FRS FRSGS LLD (26 April 1889 – 16 January 1962) was a Scottish polar explorer and geologist. Friends knew him as Jock Wordie. He was President of the Royal Geographical Society from 1951 to 1954. Early life and ed ...

. north of it is Sulphur Point, whose reddish ground is streaked with sulphur. Originally called West Bluff by DI personnel, it was renamed by UK-APC to avoid confusion with West Bluff on nearby

Zavodovski Island Zavodovski Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Traversay Islands subgroup of the South Sandwich Islands. It lies southeast of South Georgia Island. It is the northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands and the nearest to South Geor ...

. Irving Point, first discovered by von Bellingshausen's expedition, forms the eastern extremity of the island. DI personnel named it "Penguin Point," but UK-APC changed it to avoid redundancy with other similarly named locations. Irving Point was chosen for

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 ...

Lieutenant Commander J. Irving, who sketched the South Sandwich Islands from the ''

Discovery II ''Discovery II'', built in 1971, is the second of three Discovery sternwheel riverboats operated by the Riverboat Discovery company. ''Discovery II'' is still in use as a tour vessel on the Chena and Tanana rivers near Fairbanks, Alaska. Hist ...

''. northwest of Irving Point lies Saddle Bluff, named by DI personnel. Nearby Shamrock Hill, a prominent volcanic cone, was named by the survey party from because they occupied this feature as a survey station on

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

, 1964. Mikhaylov Point is a small promontory marking the island's southern extremity. It was named "Low Point" by DI personnel, but the name was changed by UK-APC to avoid duplication with Low Point on nearby

Vindication Island Vindication Island ( es, Isla Vindicación) is a small uninhabited island in the South Sandwich Islands. It lies about from Candlemas Island, separated by the Nelson Channel. The island is mostly ice free. Geography This small island is part of ...

. The name "Mikhaylov Point" was recommended for Pavel N. Mikhaylov, artist aboard the ''

Vostok Vostok refers to east in Russian but may also refer to: Spaceflight * Vostok programme, Soviet human spaceflight project * Vostok (spacecraft), a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union * Vostok (rocket family), family of rockets derived from ...

'' during the Russian expedition under von Bellingshausen.

Geography

See also

References

Further reading