Buckle Island (66°39′S 163°3′E / 66.65°S 163.05°E / -66.65; 163.05) is one of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Sturge Island and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) southeast of Young Island, some 110 kilometres (68 mi) north-northeast of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland.
The island is roughly triangular in shape, with long east and west coasts and a short north coast. It is approximately 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) in width at the north, and its maximum length is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi). The island is of volcanic origin, and is still volcanically active, the last eruption being in 1899.
The northernmost point of Buckle Island is Cape Cornish. Several small islets also lie in the channel separating Cape Cornish and Young Island, the largest of which is Borradaile Island. Several small islets lie off the island's southern extremity, Cape McNab, including Sabrina Islet and the 80-metre (262 ft) tall rock stack of The Monolith. Both Buckle Island and Sabrina Islet are home to colonies of Adelie and Chinstrap penguins.
The island forms some parts of the Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand (see Antarctic territorial claims).
Famous quotes containing the words buckle and/or island:
“Buckle down, Winsocki, buckle down.”
—Ralph Blane (b. 1914)
“When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted into the bitterest hate.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)