New Island

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New Island (Spanish: Isla de Goicoechea) is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of Beaver Island.

[edit] History and population

Long used as a base for whaling, as a sheep farm and for occasional attempts to collect guano, New Island is now a nature reserve.

New Island was one of the earliest of the islands to be colonised, and American whalers may have arrived as early as the 1770s. A couple of the placenames on or near the island, Coffin's Harbour and Coffin's Island, commemorate the family of "Coffin" who came from Nantucket. Nearby islands called "Quaker" and "Penn" reflect the New England provenance of some of the earliest settlers.

In 1813, Captain Charles H. Barnard, from Nantucket, and his crew, were marooned on the island [1]. They survived on the island for two years, and constructed a crude stone building, which is probably incorporated into the Barnard Building, probably the oldest standing building in the Falklands, now a museum restored in 2006.

In 1823, Capt James Weddell the famous Antarctic explorer anchored here, and commented on its excellent harbours, and natural food and water supplies.

In the 1850s and 60s, the island's guano deposits were mined.

A settlement lies in the middle of the east coast of the island, some distance north of an airstrip.

There is a shipwreck on the island, the Protector III, beached 1969. It was a former sealing vessel.

[edit] Wildlife

Wildlife on the island includes fur seals, elephant seals, southern sea lions, thin-billed prions, rockhopper, gentoo and Magellanic penguins, dolphin gulls and black-browed albatrosses.

There are no native land animals (other than extinct warrah) or trees, but shrubs have been introduced.

An introduced population of American Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus sp.) exists on the island [2].

[edit] External links

• New Island, with pictures
• Wildlife and history of New Island