The island's odd moniker, so dubbed by passing seafarer George Powell in 1821, derives its name from both the seals who live there and from its unusual shape: like the head of a circus elephant. The island is the largest (roughly 23x13 miles) in the Elephant Island Group which also includes Gibbs, Cornwallis, Clarence, and Aspland islands.
About a century after Powell's pass-by Elephant Island became the refuge for 28 other seamen who first lost their ship, the Endurance, after it was wrecked by sea ice and then rode those ice floes with what they could save from their ship to the island for their survival. The men were part of Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition and they established a camp at a place they called Point Wild. Shackleton and five of his crew members then set off in a lifeboat to find a rescue ship for the remaining crew members. Four months later they returned aboard a Chilean navy tugboat and all the men were rescued. Shackleton returned home and, after a period of lecturing, grew bored and organized the finances and crew for one last trip back to Antarctica. He never made it though, dying of a heart attack on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic.
Beyond this iceberg is Point Wild.
Highlights
One of the striking features about Elephant Island is its glaciers, always on the move and always presenting great photo ops. It's not uncommon to find a flock of penguins prowling the slope of a glacier, dancing with the cliff-like edge but never falling overboard. What's particularly striking is that when the ice does tumble into the sea, it's a resonant shade of blue, a great contrast to the island's stark brown rocks and endless white snow.
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