Tower Island is an

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

island long and high. It marks the north-east extent of

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers ...

. It lies north-east of

Trinity Island Trinity Island or Île de la Trinité or Isla Trinidad is an island long and wide in the northern part of the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. It lies east of Hoseason Island, south of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, and nor ...

, separated by Gilbert Strait. Both islands are separated from the

Davis Coast Davis Coast () is that portion of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula between Cape Kjellman and Cape Sterneck. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advi ...

to the south by

Orléans Strait Orléans Strait is a strait running NE-SW and separating Trinity Island and Tower Island from Davis Coast, Antarctic Peninsula. Possibly first seen by Nathaniel B. Palmer, captain of the Hero, on November 18, 1820. Named and outlined in part by ...

, running northeast–southwest. The

Pearl Rocks The Pearl Rocks are a group of rocks covering an area by close to the west coast of Tower Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. The name was given by Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE) (1955–57) and ...

lie off the West Coast of Tower Island. The island was named on 30 January 1820 by

Edward Bransfield Edward Bransfield ( – 31 October 1852) was a Royal Navy officer who served as a master on several ships, after being impressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his participation in several explorations of parts of ...

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, who described it as a round island.

Named features

A number of features on Tower Island have been charted and named by various Antarctic expeditions. The following description of features begins from the north and proceeds clockwise along the coast to the east.

East coast

The northernmost point of the island is called Cape Leguillou. It was charted by a French expedition under Captain

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French List of explorers, explorer and French Navy, naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist an ...

, 1837–40, and named by him after Élie Le Guillou, a surgeon on the expedition corvette . The name has been consistently used since that time. Ploski Cove (, ‘Zaliv Ploski’ \'za-liv 'plo-ski\), named after the village of Ploski in Bulgaria, is located to the east of the cape. It is and indents the coast by . Traverso Point forms the coast's southeastern edge. Harmanli Cove (, ) is a cove on the eastern cove of Tower Island. It indents the coast to a depth of . The cove is named after the town of

Harmanli Harmanli ( , ) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the eponymous Harmanli Municipality. Near the site of Hamanli in Late Antiquity, during the early 4th-century Cibalensean War, the Battl ...

in southeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. To the south is Cape Dumoutier, the eastern tip of Tower Island. It was named by d'Urville's expedition for Pierre Dumoutier, a surgeon with the expedition. Continuing south is Breste Cove, which is wide and deep. It is named for the settlement of Breste in northern

. South of that is Castillo Point. Condyle Point is the southeast point of the island. It was named by the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...

(UK-APC). The name is descriptive of the shape of this feature: a

condyle A condyle (;Entry "condyle"
in

is the rounded prominence at the end of a

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

. The southernmost point of the island is Peña Point.

West coast

Ustina Point (, 'Nos Ustina' \'nos 'us-ti-na\) is a rocky point on the island's west coast. The point is named after the settlement of Ustina in southern

. It is situated 2.6 km northwest of Peña Point. Closer to the north end of the island, Kranevo Point (, ‘Nos Kranevo’ \'nos 'kra-ne-vo\), named for the Bulgarian village of Kranevo, forms the south side of the entrance to Mindya Cove. Mindya Cove, named for Mindya, Bulgaria, is cove indenting the island's northwest coast for .

Coastal rock groups

* Dumoulin Rocks * Kendall Rocks *

References

External links

SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer

Trinity Peninsula.
Scale 1:250000 topographic map No. 5697. Institut für Angewandte Geodäsie and British Antarctic Survey, 1996. {{USGS Islands of the Palmer Archipelago