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:
“He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)