Desolación Island

Desolación Island (Spanish: Isla Desolación) (Spanish for Desolation) is an island at the western end of the Strait of Magellan in the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region, Chile.

For other uses, see Desolation Island.
Desolation Island
Desolation Island
Geography
LocationChile
ArchipelagoTierra del Fuego
Area1,352 km2 (522 sq mi)
Coastline866.1 km (538.17 mi)
Highest elevation1,128 m (3701 ft)
Highest pointMonte Harte Dyke
Administration
Demographics
Population0
Additional information
NGA UFI=-879556

Its northwestern point is called Cabo Pilar (Cape Pillar), and marks the entrance to the Strait of Magellan. Off Cape Pillar are three rocks in the sea, called Islotes Evangelistas (the Apostles).[1][2]

Desolación Island in fiction

The Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child novel The Ice Limit described an expedition to Isla Desolacion near Cape Horn in Chile. The map in the (paperback) edition incorrectly identifies easterly Isla Wollastone as Isla Desolacion. The authors, in a note, say this is intentional.

James Michener's novel Hawaii depicts an attempt by a sailing ship to pass the Straits of Magellan, describing the western exit past Desolation Island as the most difficult part of the passage.

In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, narrator Ishmael recalls a marble tablet at a whalemen's chapel in New Bedford which pays homage to a whaleman named John Talbot, who lost overboard "near the Isle of Desolation, off Patagonia".

In Patrick O'Brian's novel Blue at the Mizzen, a British man-of-war is sent on a peace time mission to Chile and the Straits of Magellan.

In the Jackie Chan Adventures animated television series in Season 2 Episode 24 - Scouts Honor, Jackie Chan teleport the episode's villain, Vanessa Barone, with the Eye of Aurora to Desolacion Island, saying that it is a little island off the coast of Chile and is "one of the most remote spots on earth".

See also

References
  1. J. David Williams (1873). "Patagonia". The Peoples' Pictorial Atlas. New York. Retrieved 2012-01-10 (map)
  2. J. H. Colton (1857). "Patagonia". New York. Retrieved 2012-01-10 (map)


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