Scott Island

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Scott Island is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, 505 km northeast of Cape Adare, the northeastern extremity of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is 565 m long north–south, and between 130 m and 340 m wide, reaching a height of 54 m and covering an area of 4 ha. Haggits Pillar, a stack reaching 62 m in height and measuring 50 m in diameter, yielding an area of less than 0.2 ha, is located 250 m west of the island. The island has two small coves with beaches, the rest of the island being surrounded by high cliffs. One of the coves is on the northeastern coast and the other opposite Haggitts Pillar on the western coast of the island. The island was discovered and landed upon on 25 December 1902 by captain William Colbeck, commander of the SY Morning, the relief ship for Robert Scott's expedition. Colbeck originally planned to name the island Markham Island, after Sir Clements Markham, but later decided to name it after Scott. Haggits Pillar is named after Colbeck's mother's family name, Haggit. In 2006, a mapping expedition to the Ross Sea found the islands 2.3 km north of their previously determined position. Scott Island is part of the Ross Dependency, claimed by New Zealand (see Territorial claims of Antarctica). There was an automatic weather station on the island from December 1987 to March 1999. The records show an average temperature of a few °C (°F) below 0 °C in summer, and down to -40 °C in winter. On 12 February 2009 Andrew Perry and Molly Kendall, crew members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship MY Steve Irwin, were married on the island by captain Paul Watson.

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