Disappointment Island

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Not to be confused with Disappointment Islands.

Disappointment Island (50°36.25′S, 165°58.38′E) is one of seven uninhabited islands of the archipelago Auckland Islands. It is five miles from the north-west end of Auckland Island and 180 miles south of New Zealand. It is home to the White-capped Albatross. About 65,000 pairs - nearly the entire world population - nest on Disappointment Island.[1] Endemic to the island is the Auckland Rail, once thought to have been extinct, but rediscovered in 1966.[2]

On May 14, 1866, the General Grant, a full-rigged ship of 1,103 tons, crashed into the towering cliffs on the west coast of Auckland Island. Sixty-eight passengers died. There were fifteen survivors who made their way to Disappointment Island, where they waited eighteen months for rescue.[3]

On March 7, 1907, the Dundonald, a steel, four-masted barque, sank after running ashore on the west side of Disappointment Island. Twelve men drowned. There were sixteen survivors who waited seven months for rescue.[4]


[edit] References

  1. ^ BBC - Science and Nature.
  2. ^ Auckland Islands Rail.
  3. ^ GOLD, SUNKEN. 'from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated September 18, 2007.
  4. ^ Wrecked on the Auckland Islands in 1907.
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