 NASA photograph of Ducie Island | |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | South Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 24°40′09″S 124°47′11″W / 24.66917°S 124.78639°W |
| Archipelago | Pitcairn Islands |
| Total islands | 4 |
| Major islands | Acadia, Pandora, Edwards, Westward |
| Highest elevation | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Administration | |
Ducie Island (/ˈduːsi/; Pitkern: Ducie Ailen) is an uninhabited atoll in the Pitcairn Islands group, which also includes Pitcairn, Henderson and Oeno islands. Ducie lies east of Pitcairn Island, and east of Henderson Island, and has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2), which includes the lagoon. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, measured northeast to southwest, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) wide.[1] The island is composed of four islets: Acadia, Pandora, Westward and Edwards.
Despite its sparse vegetation, the atoll is known as the breeding ground of a number of bird species. More than 90% of the world population of Murphy's petrel nests on Ducie, while pairs of red-tailed tropicbirds and fairy terns make around 1% of the world population for each species.
Ducie was first discovered in 1606 by Pedro Fernandes de Queiros, who named it Luna Puesta, and rediscovered by Edward Edwards, captain of HMS Pandora, who was sent in 1790 to capture the mutineers of HMS Bounty. He named the island Ducie in honour of Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie. In 1867, a claim on the island was made under the United States's Guano Islands Act, but the claim was never bonded. The United Kingdom annexed the island on 19 December 1902 as part of the Pitcairn Islands. Due to its inaccessibility and the distance from Pitcairn, Ducie is rarely visited, receiving one to two visits a year from cruise ships.[2]
- ^ Wahlroos, Sven (1989). Mutiny and Romance in the South Seas: a Companion to the Bounty Adventure. Topsfield, Massachusetts: Salem House. p. 280.
- ^ Brooke, M. de L. "Pitcairn Islands" (PDF). Birdlife International. p. 193. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
Ducie receives visits once or twice a year from cruise ships, which land their passengers on the north shore of Acadia. It is quite possible that there are other visits that are unrecorded, but probably infrequent.