Buckle Island
Buckle Island is one of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies north-west of Sturge Island and south-east of Young Island, some north-north-east of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland.
The island is named after John William Buckle, a merchant and shipowner who was a member of a consortium of London shipowners who sent two vessels on a voyage of exploration to the Antarctic coast in 1839-40 under the overall command of John Balleny.
The island forms part of the Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand.
Description
The island is roughly triangular in shape, with long east and west coasts and a short north coast. It is about wide in the north, with a maximum length of. It is of volcanic origin, and is still volcanically active. Smoke was seen issuing from two craters in the middle of the island by vessels nearby in 1839, 1899 and 1904.The northernmost point 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 tall stack of The Monolith. Both Buckle Island and Sabrina Islet are home to colonies of Adelie and chinstrap penguins.
The island is often surrounded by drift ice which makes it difficult for small vessels to approach the coast.