Desolación Island

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Desolation Island

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Desolación Island at the west entrance of the Strait of Magellan. Click on the image to obtain the big map
Geography
Location Chile
Archipelago Tierra del Fuego
Area 1,352 km2 (522 sq mi)
Coastline 866.1 km (538.17 mi)
Highest elevation 1,128 m (3,701 ft)
Highest point Monte Harte Dyke
Country
Demographics
Population 0
Additional information
NGA UFI=-879556

Desolación Island (Spanish for Desolation) is an island at the western end of the Strait of Magellan in the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region, Chile.

Its Northwestern point is called Cabo Pilar (Cape Pillar), and marks the entrance to the Strait of Magellan. Off Cape Pillar are three rocks in the sea, called Islotes Evangelistas (the Apostles).[1][2]

Desolación Island in fiction

The Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child novel The Ice Limit described an expedition to Isla Desolacion near Cape Horn in Chile. The map in the (paperback) edition incorrectly identifies easterly Isla Wollastone as Isla Desolacion.

James Michener's novel Hawaii depicts an attempt by a sailing ship to pass the Straits of Magellan, describing the western exit past Desolation Island as the most difficult part of the passage.

Ishmael, in Herman Melvilles classic novel, "Moby Dick", recalls a marble tablet at a whalemen's chapel in New Bedford which pays homage to a whaleman named John Talbot who lost his life whaling "near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia". This recollection occurs in Chapter 7, "The Chapel".

Coordinates: 53°06′S 73°54′W / 53.10°S 73.90°W / -53.10; -73.90

References

  1. ↑ J. David Williams (1873). "Patagonia". The Peoples' Pictorial Atlas. New York. Retrieved 2012-01-10 (map) 
  2. ↑ J. H. Colton (1857). "Patagonia". New York. Retrieved 2012-01-10 (map) 

See also

External links

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