Benjamin Island (Alaska)

Benjamin Island
Geography
Location Juneau City and Borough, Alaska
Coordinates 58°33′44″N 134°54′38″W / 58.56222°N 134.91056°WCoordinates: 58°33′44″N 134°54′38″W / 58.56222°N 134.91056°W
Archipelago Alexander Archipelago
Length 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Width 0.5 mi (0.8 km)
Highest elevation 92 ft (28 m)
Country
United States
State Alaska
Borough Juneau

Benjamin Island (or Benjamin Islet) is an island in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States. It was named by Captain Lester A. Beardslee of the United States Navy in 1880. Located off the eastern shore of Favorite Channel, it is 25 miles (40 km) northwest of the city of Juneau. The name was collected by the United States Geological Survey between 1976 and 1981, and entered into the Geographic Names Information System on March 31, 1981.[1]

Benjamin Island is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide.[2] It is about 0.75 miles (1.21 km) north of the Sentinel Island Light and 0.25 miles (0.40 km) south of North Island; it is one of the northernmost islands in Favorite Channel.[3] The island is a part of the Channel Islands State Marine Park; it is used for picnicking and camping.[4]

History

The Canadian Pacific Railway's SS Princess Sophia grounded on Vanderbilt Reef to the north early in the morning of October 24, 1918, in the midst of a snowstorm. The United States Lighthouse Service tender Cedar, captained by John W. Ledbetter, had taken up sheltered at a cove of Benjamin Island when it received word of the passenger liner's plight at 14:00 that day. The Cedar left Benjamin Island almost immediately but did not reach the reef until 22:00.[5][6][7]

Wildlife

Humpback whales[8] and Steller sea lions[9] live in the area of the island. A cow moose was noted on the island in 2005.[10]

A joint project between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Alaska Fairbanks placed cameras on the island for the purposes of studying the sea lions.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Benjamin Island
  2. ↑ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1952.
  3. ↑ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay, Fifth Edition, p. 50. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908.
  4. ↑ Channel Islands State Marine Park Management Plan PDF (10.5 MB)
  5. ↑ Newell, Gordon R. ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, Superior Publishing, Seattle, Washington 1966 (no ISBN number)
  6. ↑ Chandonnet, Ann (June 8, 2003). "Tragedy at Sea". Juneau Empire. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  7. ↑ O'Keefe, Betty and Macdonald, Ian. The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia: Did they all have to die? Surrey, British Columbia: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 1998.
  8. ↑ Woodford, Riley (November 23, 2001). "Whales of winter show in Juneau". Juneau Empire. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  9. ↑ Willson, Mary (November 5, 2006). "It's not hard to find Juneau's kayak 'trails'". Juneau Empire. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  10. ↑ Woodford, Riley (July 24, 2005). "Southeast moose hunters will see changes this year". Juneau Empire. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  11. ↑ Dye, Kathy (January 7, 2001). "Live cameras make stars of Southeast's Steller sea lions". Juneau Empire. Retrieved September 2, 2011.