Borradaile Island () is one of the

Balleny Islands The Balleny Islands () are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated an ...

. It was the site of the first landing south of the

Antarctic Circle The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of Earth. The region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic, and the zone immediately to the north is called the Southern Temperate Zone. S ...

, and features the "remarkable pinnacle" called ''Beale Pinnacle'', near Cape Beale on its south-eastern coast, and Cape Scoresby on its north-western coast.

Exploration

Borradaile Island was discovered in February 1839 by

John Balleny John Balleny (died 1857) was the English captain of the sealing schooner , who led an exploration cruise for the English whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons to the Antarctic in 1838–1839. During the expedition of 1838–1839, Balleny, sailing in co ...

, who named it for W. Borradaile, one of the merchants who united with

Charles Enderby Charles Enderby (1797–1876) was one of three sons of Samuel Enderby Junior (1756–1829). He was the grandson of Samuel Enderby (1717–1797), who founded the Samuel Enderby & Sons company in 1775. Samuel Enderby & Sons was one of the ...

in sending out the expedition. The first landing on the island was by Captain Freeman of the cutter ''Sabrina'' on February 12, 1839, who landed briefly on a spit at the islands north-west corner. This was the first time a human set foot south of the

. The island was not visited again until February 29, 1948, when a party of Australians, including

Phillip Law Phillip Garth Law, AC, CBE, FAA, FTSE (21 April 1912 – 28 February 2010) was an Australian scientist and explorer who served as director of Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) from 1949 to 1966. Early life Law was ...

and Stuart Campbell, landed at the same point from .

Features

Borradaile Island is about long and wide, lying southeastward of

Young Island Young Island () is the northernmost and westernmost of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies northwest of Buckle Island, some north-northeast of Belousov Point on the Antarctic ma ...

. Cape Scoresby () is a high bluff marking the north end of Borradaile Island. It was charted by personnel on the

RRS Discovery II RRS ''Discovery II'' was a British Royal Research Ship which, during her operational lifetime of about 30 years, carried out considerable hydrographical and marine biological survey work in Antarctic waters and the Southern Ocean in the course ...

who made

running survey A running survey is a rough survey made by a vessel while coasting. Bearings to landmarks are taken at intervals as the vessel sails offshore, and are used to fix features on the coast and further inland. Intervening coastal detail is sketched in. ...

s of the northern portion of the Balleny Islands in 1936–1938. Cape Scoresby is named after the RSS ''William Scoresby'', a companion research ship of ''Discovery II'' in carrying out oceanographic work in Antarctic waters at that time, which is in turn named after the Arctic explorer

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...

. Beale Pinnacle () is a boot-shaped rock pinnacle, 60 m high, lying close off Cape Beale, a steep bluff on the south-east side of the island. Both are named after W. Beale, another of the merchants who joined with Charles Enderby in sending out the John Balleny expedition of 1839.

References

{{usgs-gazetteer, id=1703 Islands of the Balleny Islands

Exploration

Features

See also

References