South Sandwich Islands

Satellite photograph of Montagu Island

The island chain from space

The South Sandwich Islands are a group of uninhabited sub-Antarctic islands which form an arc running north-south in the region 56°18' to 59°27'S, 26°23' to 28°08'W, between about 350 miles and 500 miles southeast of South Georgia. They are part of the British overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

There are 11 islands which are mostly volcanic islands, and other tiny satellite islands and offshore rocks. Some of the islands are active volcanoes. No permanent settlment has been achieved on the islands: when Carl Anton Larson landed on Zavodovski Island, the northernmost and nearest to South Georgia, he was overcome with fumes from the volcanic vents and guano. It is not for nothing that the island's mountain is named Mount Asphyxia.

History

Captain James Cook discovered the southern eight islands of the Sandwich Islands Group in 1775, although he lumped the southernmost three together, and their status as separate islands was not established until 1820 by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The northern three islands were discovered by Bellingshausen in 1819. The islands were tentatively named "Sandwich Land" by Cook, although he also commented that they might be a group of islands rather than a single body of land. The name was chosen in honour of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. The word "South" was later added to distinguish them from the "Sandwich Islands", now known as the Hawaiian Islands.

The United Kingdom formally annexed the South Sandwich Islands through the 1908 Letters Patent, grouping them with other British-held territory in Antarctica as the Falkland Islands Dependencies.

Argentina raised a vain claim to the South Sandwich Islands in 1938, and challenged British sovereignty in the islands on several occasions. From 25 January 1955, through mid-1956 Argentina maintained the summer station Teniente Esquivel at Ferguson Bay on the southeastern coast of Thule Island and later maintained a naval base (Corbeta Uruguay) from 1976 to 1982, in the lee (southern east coast) of the same island. Although the British discovered the presence of the Argentine base in 1978, protested and tried to resolve the issue by diplomatic means, no effort was made to remove them by force until after the Falklands War. The base was removed on 20 June 1982.

The Islands

Map of the South Sandwich Islands

The northernmost of the South Sandwich Islands form the Traversay Islands and Candlemas Islands groups, while the southernmost make up Southern Thule. The three largest islands, Saunders, Montagu and Bristol, lie between the two. The highest point of the South Sandwich Islands is Mount Belinda on Montagu Island, which reaches 4,490 feet above sea level: higher than Ben Nevis.

The South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited, though a manned Argentine research station was located on Thule Island from 1976 to 1982 (for details, see "History" section above). There are automatic weather stations on Thule and Zavodovski.

To the northwest of Zavodovski Island is the Protector Shoal, a submarine volcano.

The following table lists the South Sandwich Islands from north to south:

Island	Area	Highest Peak	Location
Traversay Islands
Protector Shoal	—	88.6 ft below sea level	55°54′S 28°06′W
Zavodovski	9.7 sq mile	Mount Asphyxia: 1,800 ft	56°18′S 27°34′W
Leskov	0.12 sq mile	Rudder Point: 620 ft	56°40′S 28°08′W
Visokoi	14 sq mile	Mount Hodson: 3,002 ft	56°42′S 27°13′W
Candlemas Islands (sometimes included with Traversay Islands)
Candlemas	5.4 sq mile	Mount Andromeda: 1,800 ft	57°05′S 26°39′W
Vindication	1.9 sq mile	Quadrant Peak: 1,410 ft	57°06′S 26°47′W
Central islands
Saunders	15 sq mile	Mount Michael: 3,250 feet	57°48′S 26°28′W
Montagu	42 sq mile	Mount Belinda: 4,490 ft	58°25′S 26°23′W
Bristol	18 sq mile	Mount Darnley: 1,100 ft	59°03′S 26°30′W
Southern Thule
Bellingshausen	0.39 sq mile	Basilisk Peak: 837 ft	59°25′S 27°05′W
Cook	7.7 sq mile	Mount Harmer: 3,658 ft	59°26′S 27°09′W
Thule or Morrell Island	5.4 sq mile	Mount Larsen: 2,330 ft	59°27′S 27°18′W
Vysokaya Bank	—	—	59°43′S 27°58′W

Sea passages

A series of six passages separates each of the islands or island groups in the chain. They are, from north to south:

Zavodovski Island

—Traverse passage—

Visokoi Island

—Brown's passage—

Candlemas Island

—Shackleton's passage—

Saunders Island

—Larsen's passage—

Montagu Island

—Biscoe's passage—

Bristol Island

—Forster's passage—

Southern Thule

Nelson Channel is the passage between Candlemas Island and Vindication Island.