Saunders Island, South Sandwich Islands

Saunders Island

Saunders Island location
Location of Saunders Island
Geography
Coordinates	57°47′S 026°27′W / 57.783°S 26.450°W / -57.783; -26.450
Archipelago	South Sandwich Islands
Length	8.8 km (5.47 mi)
Highest elevation	990 m (3,250 ft)
Highest point	Mount Michael
Administration
United Kingdom
Demographics
Population	Uninhabited

Saunders Island is a crescent-shaped island 8.8 km (5.5 mi) long, lying between Candlemas Island and Montagu Island in the South Sandwich Islands, a part of the United Kingdom. It is a volcanic island composed of an active stratovolcano, 990-metre (3,248 ft) Mount Michael, (Named by Commander William Melvin Carey of the Discovery II, after his son Michael Carey). It's known to have erupted explosively in 1819, and has erupted repeatedly since 2000, most recently in 2005. The 700 m (2,297 ft) diameter summit crater is thought to possibly contain an active lava lake, one of only a handful in the world.

Saunders Island was discovered in 1775 by Captain James Cook, who named it for Sir Charles Saunders, First Lord of the Admiralty. It was charted in greater detail by Bellingshausen in 1819, and in 1930 by DI personnel on the Discovery II. The island was surveyed in 1964 by HMS Protector after whose captain, Captain Martin S. Ollivant, the westernmost point, Ollivant Point, is named.

Shackleton sometimes misspells it as "Sanders Island" in his book South.

See also

• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands

References

• "Michael". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. 
• LeMasurier, W. E.; Thomson, J. W., eds. (1990). Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. American Geophysical Union. p. 512 pp. ISBN 0-87590-172-7. 
• Volcano World: Mount Michael

South Sandwich Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Capital: King Edward Point (Grytviken)
General	Coat of arms Commissioner Flag Foreign relations History Languages List of South Georgians Operation "Paraquet" South Georgia Museum .gs Sovereignty Invasion of South Georgia
Settlements / Whaling stations	Grytviken Godthul Husvik Leith Harbour Ocean Harbour Prince Olav Harbour Rosita Harbour Stromness Corbeta Uruguay base
South Georgia islands	Annenkov Island Bird Island Black Rock Black Rocks Clerke Rocks Cooper Island Grass Island Grassholm Kupriyanov Islands Pickersgill Islands Prion Island Saddle Island Shag Rocks South Georgia Trinity Island Welcome Islands Willis Islands
South Sandwich islands	Bellingshausen Bristol Candlemas Cook Leskov Montagu Saunders Thule Vindication Visokoi Zavodovski Traversay Islands
Landmarks	Admiralty Peak Allardyce Range Fortuna Glacier Gold Harbour Larsen Harbour Mount Baume Mount Belinda Mount Cunningham Mount Paget Mount Roots Peggotty Bluff Salisbury Plain Salvesen Range Southern Thule Thatcher Peninsula Grace Glacier Lucas Glacier Bay of Isles Point Abrahamsen Sheep Point Stromness Bay Cumberland Bay Possession Bay Sheer Point Busen Point