Trinity Island

Trinity Island, or the adjoining Davis Coast stretch of the Antarctic Peninsula, may have been the first part of Antarctica spotted by Nathaniel Palmer, on 16 November 1820. He was an American sealer, exploring southwards from Cape Horn in his little sloop searching for seal rookeries. The whole archipelago was named in his honour in 1897 by Adrien de Gerlache, leader of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition.

Trinity Island is one of the most northerly of the islands of the Palmer Archipelago, a chain of more than fifty islands running parallel with the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is about {{convert|24|km|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|10|km|0|abbr=on}} wide, with an irregular shape and coastline that encompasses many points, capes, bays, coves, and other subordinate features. Many of these geographic features have been charted and named by various Antarctic expeditions, as well as the nations of Argentina and Bulgaria.

Trinity Island is separated from Tower Island to the east by Gilbert Strait. Both islands are separated from the Davis Coast to the south by Orléans Strait, running northeast–southwest. To the southwest, Chayka Passage separates Trinity Island from Spert Island by just {{Cvt|110|m||abbr=}}.

Cape Wollaston marks the island's northwest extremity. The name was originally applied by the 1828-1831 British Chanticleer expedition for William H. Wollaston, commissioner of the Royal Society from 1818–28. To the east along the north coast is Lorna Cove, {{cvt|1.1|km}} wide, with ice-covered Albatros Point marking its eastern shore. Both features were named for Bulgarian fishing trawlers from the Ocean Fisheries company. Continuing east, Cape Neumayer forms the northeast end of Trinity Island. It was charted by the SAE and named after German geophysicist Georg B. von Neumayer.

On the west coast, Preker Point sits {{cvt|2.1|km||abbr=}} to the southwest of Cape Wollaston. It is named for a mountain in the Balkan Mountains. It marks the northern point of Saldobisa Cove, which is {{cvt|2.3|km||abbr=}} wide, and was named for an ancient Thracian settlement in northern Bulgaria. Burya Point, formed by an offshoot of Ketripor Hill, divides Saldobisa from Olusha Cove to the south. It was named for Burya, a village in Bulgaria. Olusha Cove, named for a Bulgarian fishing trawler, is {{cvt|2.7|km||abbr=}} wide and marked to the south by Consecuencia Point.

Continuing south down the west coast, just north of Lyon Peak, sits Milburn Bay, fed by Pastra Glacier. The bay was shown on an Argentine government chart of 1952 and named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UKAPC) in 1960 for M. R. Milburn, an air traffic control officer of the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE), which photographed this area in the period 1955–57.

File:Mikkelsen Harbour-2016-Trinity Island (D'Hainaut Island)–Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) 02.jpgs at Mikkelsen Harbor, Trinity Island]]

Towards the southern end of the west coast is Krivina Bay, a {{cvt|5|km|}}-wide bay that indents the coast to a depth of {{cvt|3|km|}}. Three small, rocky islands lie in the northern part of the bay. Northernmost is Imelin Island, {{cvt|600|m}} long by {{cvt|380|m}} wide. Dink Island lies {{cvt|120|m}} to the south. It is {{cvt|610|m}} long by {{cvt|320|m}} wide, and lies {{cvt|180|m}} north of Rogulyat Island, which is the southernmost of the three. Rogulyat Island is {{cvt|350|m}} long by {{cvt|160|m}} wide. The bay and its islands are named for locations in Bulgaria: the villages of Dink, Krivina, and Rogulyat, and Imelin Cave.

On the southwest side of the island is Belimel Bay, a {{cvt|5.9|km}}-wide bay that indents the coast to a depth of {{cvt|3.9|km}}. It is named for Belimel in northwestern Bulgaria. The bay is defined on the north by Spert Island and to the south by Asencio Point. The point is named for Alferez de Navío Salvador Asencio of the Uruguay. Tizoin Point, named for a cave in Bulgaria, projects southwards into the middle of the bay.

On the east side of the southern portion of the island, {{convert|4|mi|0|order=flip}} northeast of Borge Point, Awl Point projects a short distance from the shore. Awl Point was shown on an Argentine government chart of 1952, and named by the UKAPC in 1960 because the point is low in elevation but very sharply pointed in plan, suggesting an awl.

The southernmost point of the island is called Skottsberg Point, which marks the west side of Mikkelsen Harbor, the most prominent feature on the southern half of the island.

The Hydrodist Rocks lie {{Convert|4|nmi|km|0}} off the west coast of Trinity Island. They were first fixed in January 1964 by {{HMS|Protector|A146}} by means of a helicopter-borne hydrodist.

Judas Rock lies {{Convert|5|nmi|km|0}} west of the southwest end of the island. First shown on an Argentine government chart of 1950, UKAPC named it in 1960 after Judas Iscariot because the rock marks the southern extremity of a hazardous shoal area which extends northward from it for {{Convert|3|nmi|km|0}} in an otherwise clear passage.

Cape Wollaston, at the northwest extremity of the island, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a large breeding colony of about 10,000 pairs of southern fulmars. The {{Cvt|116|ha}} site comprises the ice-free land of the cape. It has an elevation of about 250 m.

A {{convert|45|ha|adj=mid|abbr=off}} site comprising a rocky headland rising to {{convert|250|m|ft}} above sea level, at the south-western extremity of the island, has also been designated an IBA because it supports a breeding colony of about 200 pairs of Antarctic shags. Chinstrap penguins also nest at the site.

• List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web|url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/cape-wollaston-trinity-island-iba-antarctica|title=Cape Wollaston, Trinity Island|date=2015|work=BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas|publisher=BirdLife International|access-date=2019-05-04}}

{{cite web |url= http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/trinity-island-southwest-iba-antarctica |title= Trinity Island southwest|date=2015|work=BirdLife data zone: Important Bird Areas|publisher=BirdLife International|access-date=2019-05-04}}

{{cite gnis|type=antarid|id=785 |name=Awl Point |access-date=2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite gnis|type=antarid|id=10621 |name=Cape Neumayer |access-date=2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite gnis|type=antarid|id=16074 |name=Cape Wollaston |access-date=2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite gnis|type=antarid |id=5675 |name= Gilbert Strait |access-date=2019-05-03}}

{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 7235| name = Hydrodist Rocks | access-date = 2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 7683| name = Judas Rock| access-date = 2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 9975| name = Milburn Bay | access-date = 2019-05-03|links=off}}

{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 11151| name = Orléans Strait| access-date = 2019-05-03|links=off}}

{{cite gnis | type = antarid | id = 13979| name = Skottsberg Point |access-date=2019-04-20|links=off}}

{{cite book|author= Mills, William J.|title=Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdBH4dOOM4C&pg=PA662 |year=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-422-0 |page=662}}

{{cite scar| id= 139086 | name = Albatros Point |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 134029 | name = Asencio Point | access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 136870 | name = Belimel Bay |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137716 | name = Burya Point |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 139080 | name = Chayka Passage |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 100551 | name = Consecuencia Point |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137719 | name = Dink Island |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137718 | name = Imelin Island |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 136871 | name = Krivina Bay |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 139087 | name = Lorna Cove |access-date= 2019-05-05}}

{{cite scar| id= 137716 | name = Olusha Cove |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137715 | name = Preker Point |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137721 | name = Rogulyat Island |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 137717 | name = Saldobisa Cove |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

{{cite scar| id= 139078 | name = Tizoin Point |access-date= 2019-05-05|links=off}}

}}

• [https://copernix.io/#?where=-60.733333000000016,-63.783333,11&?query=&?map_type=hybrid Trinity Island] Copernix satellite image of Trinity Island

{{Important Bird Areas of Antarctica}}

Category:Islands of the Palmer Archipelago

Category:Important Bird Areas of Antarctica

Category:Seabird colonies