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[[File:Inaccessible Island ASTER.jpg|thumb|NASA Terra ASTER image of Inaccessible Island]]
'''Inaccessible Island''' is a [[volcanic island]] located in the [[Atlantic Ocean|South Atlantic Ocean]], {{convert|31|km|mi|abbr=on}} south-west of [[Tristan da Cunha]]. Its highest point, Swale's Fell, reaches {{convert|581|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, and the island is {{convert|12.65|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} in area. The volcano was last active six million years ago and is currently [[Volcano#Extinct|extinct]].
Inaccessible Island is part of the [[Tristan da Cunha|archipelago of Tristan da Cunha]], which is part of the [[British Overseas Territories|overseas territory]] of the [[United Kingdom]] known as [[Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]]. Tristan da Cunha itself is accessible only by sea via a seven-day voyage from Cape Town, South Africa, and the harbour on Inaccessible Island allows access for only a few days of the year.<ref>" . .it’s really only possible to land on Inaccessible Island for a week or so each year, probably around December and January." (Atlas Obscura)</ref> Access to the island must be granted by the local government office.<ref name=AO/>
==Geography==
The island is approximately {{convert|40|km|nmi mi}} to the southwest of the main island of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. Mostly desolate and inhospitable, the island has few small, rocky beaches.<ref name="TdC-I">{{cite web |title=Tristan da Cunha Outer Islands / Inaccessible |url=https://tristandc.com/inaccessible.php |website=Tristan da Cunha Website |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110072123/https://www.tristandc.com/inaccessible.php |archive-date=10 January 2022}}</ref> Generations of sailors were wary of the difficult landing and inhospitable terrain.<ref name=AO>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/can-you-visit-inaccessible-island?mc_cid=549ab36512&mc_eid=34be11d5e3|title=The Questionable Rewards of a Visit to Inaccessible Island|author=Dan Nosowitz|date=1 November 2018|access-date=6 August 2021|via=Atlas Obscura}}</ref> Inaccessible Island has been without permanent inhabitants since 1873.<ref name="TdC-I" />
Along with [[Gough Island]], Inaccessible Island is a protected wildlife reserve and both make up the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] of [[Gough and Inaccessible Islands]]. Inaccessible Island is home to the endemic [[Inaccessible Island rail]], the world's smallest extant flightless bird.<ref name="TdC-U">{{cite web |title=Gough and Inaccessible Islands UNESCO World Heritage Site |url=https://tristandc.com/wildworldheritagesite740.php |website=Tristan da Cunha Website |publisher=Tristan da Cunha Government & Tristan da Cunha Association |access-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129213803/https://tristandc.com/wildworldheritagesite740.php |archive-date=29 November 2021}}</ref>
==History==
Inaccessible Island was discovered in January 1656 during a voyage by'' ’t Nachtglas'' ("the night glass"), a [[Netherlands|Dutch]] ship under the command of Jan Jacobszoon,<ref name="books.google.nl">{{cite book|author=R. K. Headland|title=Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sg49AAAAIAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-30903-5}}</ref> 146 years after Tristan da Cunha was first sighted by Portuguese sailors. Jacobszoon originally named it "Nachtglas" island.
There are two explanations for the name "Inaccessible" island. One is that on maps the newly found island was referred to as "inaccessible" because the Dutch crew who landed were not able to reach its interior.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/inaccessible_island/inaccessible_island_history.html|title=History of Inaccessible Island, South Atlantic Ocean |publisher=archive.is |access-date=24 July 2014|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629181942/http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/inaccessible_island/inaccessible_island_history.html|archive-date=29 June 2012}}</ref> The other claims that French captain d'Etcheverry renamed the island in 1778 after not being able to land.<ref name="tristandc.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.tristandc.com/inaccessible.php|title=Inaccessible Island|publisher=Tristandc.com|access-date=6 August 2013}}</ref><ref>Édouard Ducéré, ''Histoire maritime de Bayonne: Les corsaires sous la̓ncien régime'' (Bayonne, 1895:307-24) reproduces the sieur d'Etcheverry's manuscript narrative of his voyage to Moluccas in 1770 in the ''Etoile du Matin'' and mentions a second voyage in 1772.</ref>
In 1803, US sailors led by Amasa Delano made landfall on the island.<ref name="books.google.nl" />
[[File:Rockhopper inaccessible.jpg|right|thumb|[[Northern rockhopper penguin]]s, from an engraving after a photograph, published in a book by the naturalist aboard [[HMS Challenger (1858)|HMS ''Challenger'']]]]
Moscow-born brothers Gustav and Frederick Stoltenhoff arrived on Inaccessible from Germany in 1871 and lived there for two years intending to make a living sealing and selling their wares to passing traders, though such trade was minimal. Due to the scarcity of food, they were "overjoyed" to be rescued in 1873 during [[HMS Challenger (1858)|HMS ''Challenger'']]'s visit to examine the flora and fauna there.<ref>''A Naturalist on the "Challenger"'', H. N. Moseley. p. 116. Macmillan and Co., 1879. Fetched from [https://archive.org/stream/notesbynaturalis00mose#page/116/mode/1up archive.org] on 3 June 2009.</ref> The South African author [[Eric Rosenthal (historian and author)|Eric Rosenthal]] chronicled the Stoltenhoffs' adventure in 1952.<ref>Rosenthal, Eric (1952) ''Shelter from the Spray'', Cape Town, South Africa: Howard Timmins</ref> The nearby [[Stoltenhoff Island]] is named for the brothers.<ref name=AO/>
In 1922, the [[Shackleton–Rowett Expedition]]'s ship, the ''[[Quest (ship)|Quest]]'', stopped by Inaccessible briefly, and on-board naturalist [[Hubert Wilkins]] discovered a bird later named the [[Wilkins's finch|Wilkins finch]] (''Nesospiza wilkinsi''). In 1938, the Norwegian Scientific Expedition spent three weeks on the island, during which time they managed to gain access to the plateau and extensively catalogued plants, birds, and rocks. Another attempt at mapping the island was made during the [[Royal Society]]'s expedition of 1962 to Tristan da Cunha, which took scientists to Inaccessible Island. Like many other explorers before them, the scientists were not able to reach the interior of the island.
Inaccessible Island was declared a nature reserve under the Tristan da Cunha Conservation Ordinance of 1976. Tristan islanders, however, were still permitted to harvest seabirds from the island. In a 1982 expedition (16 October 1982 – 10 February 1983), students and faculty of [[Denstone College]] in England made detailed maps of the island, studied its flora, fauna, and geology, and carried out a [[bird ringing]] programme on more than 3,000 birds.<ref>''Denstone Expedition to Inaccessible Island'': ''Denstonian'' Supplement (Autumn 1983), p. 2.</ref>
In 1997, Inaccessible Island's territorial waters out to {{convert|22|km|mi|abbr=on}} were declared a nature reserve under the Tristan da Cunha Conservation Ordinance of 1976. Currently, only guides from Tristan are allowed to take visiting cruise ships to Inaccessible; most trips to the island are now made at the request of [[expatriates]]. In 2004 Inaccessible Island was added to the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]] of Gough Island to create a new site of [[Gough and Inaccessible Islands]].
===Shipwrecks===
At least three confirmed shipwrecks have occurred off the coast of Inaccessible Island. The first was [[Blenden Hall (1811 ship)|''Blenden Hall'']], a British ship which set sail in 1821 with 54 passengers and crew aboard, her destination [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. Captain Alexander Grieg intended to sail past [[Saint Helena]], but adverse currents carried her to Tristan da Cunha. She got caught in seaweed and on 22 July drifted aground on Inaccessible Island. All but two of those aboard survived the shipwreck.<ref name=lloyds_list5692/> They spent the next four months subsisting on wild celery, seals, penguins, and albatross.{{fact|date=March 2021}} They managed to build a boat some months later. The first attempt to sail to Tristan failed, resulting in the loss of six people; but the second attempt alerted the Tristanians to their plight. The remainder were then brought to Tristan, where the [[brig]] ''Nerina'' arrived about two months later and took most to [[Cape Town]], South Africa.<ref name="lloyds_list5692">{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005730638&view=1up&seq=137|title=Lloyd's List|publisher=Gregg International|year=1822|pages=78 v|location=Westmead, Gt. Brit.|quote=The Blenden Hall, Greig, from London to Bombay, was totally wrecked on the 23d of July, on Inaccessible Island, near Tristan da Cunha. The Master, Officers, and Passengers saved : two of the crew were drowned when the Ship was lost; and six others who left the island in a boat on the 19th October for Tristan da Cunha, have not since been heard of. The Nerinæ Lachlan, of London, arrived at the Cape of Good Hope 20th January, with 4 ladies, 3 children, 20 other passengers, and 11 of the crew, who had been on Inaccessible Island sixteen weeks, and went from thence in boats to Tristan da Cunha.}}</ref>
The other two shipwrecks are the wreck of ''Shakespeare'' at Pig Beach in 1883, and ''Helenslea'' at North Point in 1897.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
==Flora and fauna==
{{See also|Wildlife of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha}}
When Corporal William Glass and his family became the first settlers at Tristan da Cunha in 1816, goats and pigs were brought to Inaccessible Island to serve as a source of food. Cattle, sheep, and dogs were also introduced to the island at various points in the island's history. Some domestic animals helped to keep the Stoltenhoff brothers alive during their expedition, but all remaining domestic animals were removed during the 1950s.<ref name=AO/>
No land mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, or snails have been found at Inaccessible. The island does have 64 native plant species, including 20 types of [[flowering plant]]s and 17 species of [[fern]]s. In addition, 48 invertebrate species exist on the island, 10 of which were introduced.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/island/wildlife.htm|title=Inaccessible Island - Wildlife and Plantlife|publisher=University of Central Lancashire|year=2002|access-date=21 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235436/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/island/wildlife.htm|archive-date=26 September 2007}}</ref> [[Subantarctic fur seal]]s and [[southern elephant seal]]s have also been seen at the island in increasing numbers, and [[cetacea]]ns live in the surrounding waters: most notably, [[southern right whale]]s and a resident population of [[dusky dolphin]]s.
===Birds===
[[File:Atlantisia rogersi russ.jpg|thumb|right|Inaccessible rail]]
Inaccessible is perhaps best known for the [[Inaccessible Island rail]], the world's smallest living flightless bird.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stervander|first1=Martin|last2=Ryan|first2=Peter G.|date=1 January 2019|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=130|pages=92–98|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007|last3=Melo|first3=Martim|last4=Hansson|first4=Bengt|pmid=30321695|title=The origin of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi (Aves: Rallidae)|s2cid=53024581}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/island/ringing.htm|title=Birds Ringed on Inaccessible Island|publisher=University of Central Lancashire|year=2002|access-date=21 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235243/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/island/ringing.htm|archive-date=26 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-did-the-world-s-smallest-flightless-bird-get-to-inaccessible-island|publisher=Pocket worthy Stories to fuel your mind.|date=2 November 2018|title=How Did the World's Smallest Flightless Bird Get to Inaccessible Island? The first scientists to describe the animal thought it might have walked.|work=[[Atlas Obscura]]|first1=Sarah|last1=Laskow|quote=On this one tiny island, there is a thriving population of thousands of what we’ll now call Laterallus rogersi, but they are considered vulnerable to extinction.|access-date=14 June 2020}}</ref> The island has been identified as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] as a breeding site for [[seabird]]s and its endemic landbirds. Birds for which the IBA is significant include [[northern rockhopper penguin]]s (up to 27,000 breeding pairs), [[Tristan albatross]]es (2–3 pairs), [[sooty albatross]]es (200 pairs), [[Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross]]es (1,100 pairs), [[broad-billed prion]]s (up to 500,000 pairs), [[soft-plumaged petrel]]s (up to 50,000 pairs), [[spectacled petrel]]s, [[great shearwater]]s (up to 2 million pairs), [[little shearwater]]s (up to 50,000 pairs), [[white-faced storm petrel]]s (up to 50,000 pairs), [[white-bellied storm petrel]]s (up to 50,000 pairs), [[Antarctic tern]]s, [[Inaccessible rail]]s (up to 5,000 pairs), [[Tristan thrush]]es and [[Inaccessible bunting]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.birdlife.org|title=Inaccessible Island|access-date=26 October 2012|work=Important Bird Areas factsheet|publisher=BirdLife International|year=2012}}</ref>
==Economy==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2016}}
Inaccessible Island has been used by the islanders of Tristan da Cunha for several economic purposes. The island has [[guano]] deposits and eggs, but due to the difficulty of travelling about the island, the islanders have generally chosen to go to [[Nightingale Island]] instead.
==In popular culture==
* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'' alluded to Nightingale Island, Inaccessible Island, and Tristan da Cunha.
* In [[Patrick O'Brian]]'s ''[[The Thirteen Gun Salute]]'' (1989), pp. 120–29, Captain Aubrey's ship ''Diane'', in a dead calm, is carried toward Inaccessible Island by the onshore current. One sailor recounts the wreck of a whaling ship that he witnessed when it was lost with all hands in similar conditions. Only a fortunate breeze saves Aubrey's ship. The episode is depicted in the cover painting of the book showing the towering cliffs plunging directly into the sea.
* "Sea Lion", the pseudonym of "a serving naval officer" ([[Geoffrey Bennett (historian)|Geoffrey Martin Bennett]]), wrote ''The Phantom Fleet'' (1946), predicated on the supposition that Inaccessible Island contained a natural harbour, the entrance to which was concealed from the sea. The antagonists were assembling a fleet of obsolescent warships in this harbour, with the intention of striking a [[coup de main]] leading to world domination, a scheme foiled by the derring-do of a naval officer and the guns of the Royal Navy.
* [[Eric Newby]] passed within sight of Inaccessible Island on his 1938–1939 voyage from Ireland to Australia aboard ''[[Moshulu]]'', as chronicled in his books ''[[The Last Grain Race]]'' and ''Learning the Ropes''. Inaccessible Island was the only land that the crew saw on the voyage until reaching Australia, and was therefore a cause for some excitement.
* [[Daniel Suarez (author)|Daniel Suarez]]'s 2014 novel ''Influx'' refers to this island as the location of the underground prison 'Hibernity'.
==Photographs==
[[File:InaccessibleIsland2021OSM.png|thumb|center|An enlargeable, detailed map of Inaccessible Island]]
{{wide image|View of Nightingale and Inaccessible islands from the deck of National Geographic Explorer.jpg|1000px|View of Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands from the sea. Left to right: Nightingale Island, Middle Island, Stoltenhoff Island, Inaccessible Island.}}
{{wide image|File:Inaccessible Island Panorama.jpg|1000px|View of Inaccessible Island from the sea.}}
{{wide image|File:Beach on Inaccessible island.jpg|1000px|Tourists on the beach of Inaccessible Island}}
==See also==
* [[List of mountains and hills of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.tristandc.com/inaccessible.php Inaccessible Island: Tristan da Cunha website]
* {{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/inaccessible_island/inaccessible_island_history.html|title=History of Inaccessible Island, South Atlantic Ocean|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629181942/http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/inaccessible_island/inaccessible_island_history.html|archive-date=29 June 2012|url-status=dead}}
* [http://www.tristantimes.com/art.php?cat=50 Tristan Times: Inaccessible Island expedition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050912041817/http://www.tristantimes.com/art.php?cat=50 |date=2005-09-12 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/inaccessible_island/inaccessible_island_shipwrecks.html|title=Inaccessible Island shipwrecks|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121129172204/http://www.bt.com/sorrypages/sorry/platform/btinternet.html|archive-date=29 November 2012|url-status=dead}}
* [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20080510070849/http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/gough.html UNEP-WCMC Protected Areas Programme: Gough Island Wildlife Reserve]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041222005852/http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/island/index.htm University of Central Lancashire: Inaccessible Island]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050209002712/http://geosciences.ou.edu/~bweaver/Ascension/tdc-geol.htm Geology of Tristan da Cunha and Inaccessible Island]
* {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3fK1aOlhwE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/A3fK1aOlhwE |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Seldom-Visited Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands|date=23 May 2012|author=Lindblad Expeditions|work=[[National Geographic]]|format=Video|via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}
{{Tristan da Cunha}}
{{World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}
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