Île de l'Est
Île de l'Est, or East Island, is a part of the subantarctic archipelago of the Crozet Islands. With an area of it is the second largest island of the group. It is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Description
The island is the easternmost of the archipelago, lying about east of Île de la Possession. The landscape is mainly bare rock; it is the most mountainous in the archipelago, with a high point of, and a rugged coastline of high cliffs. It is dissected by several steep-sided valleys of glacial origin. The only introduced animals are rabbits. There is no human infrastructure; it is only occasionally visited by researchers.History
East Island was discovered on January 24, 1772, by the French expedition led by Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne, who named it île Aride.The island was visited from the early 19th century by seal hunters, primarily from Great Britain and New England. A carved stone bearing the name Henry Kennedy and the date December 21, 1806, was found there.
The most famous castaway is Guillaume Lesquin, a native of Roscoff, Brittany, France, who, at the age of 22, shipwrecked on July 29, 1825, with a crew reduced to six others from the ship L'Aventure. They wrecked on the aptly named Shipwreck Beach on the island’s northern coast, which Lesquin named Chabrol Island. Rescued on January 6, 1827, by the British ship Cape Packet, Guillaume Lesquin returned to France on May 7, 1827. In July, he shared his ordeal with the readers of Lycée Armoricain.
East Island is uninhabited and designated as part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Natural Park.