ATLAS OF REMOTE ISLANDS
Macquarie Island

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(Australia)

Pacific Ocean

54° 38' S | 158° 52' E

128 km² | 20-40 residents

THIS CRAGGY PIECE of land, where it rains all year round, has never been part of a land mass, but comes directly from the sea. It is a piece of the Earth’s crust from the bottom of the ocean that just happened to shoot up above sea level, a vertebra of an undersea spine that rises above the water. Here, halfway to Antarctica, where the warm water of the north meets the cold water of the south, the sea is always stormy, and every landing is dangerous. // It is only with great difficulty that, in January 1840, the crew of the Peacock manage to land without losing their ship. The men explore the steep rocky ground, gathering specimens of the sparse vegetation. Lieutenant Charles Wilkes comes to the conclusion that Macquarie Island offers no inducement for a visit. // Only the midshipman Henry Eld is overwhelmed when he walks down to Hurd Point on his own. Grass-covered shipwrecks moulder in every bay and on every beach; skeletons of ships in a sea of penguins, of which the island has millions. He has often heard of the great quantity of birds on uninhabited islands, but he is not prepared for this huge number. The whole sides of the rugged hills are covered with them. He has never heard such terrible squeaking, squalling and gabbling before, and he has never dreamed that any of the feathered tribe would be able to make such a din. They snap at him from all directions, catching hold of his trousers, shaking and pinching his flesh violently so that he flinches and stands upon the defensive. With pale bellies and dark faces, beaks stretched out, they surround the intruder. More and more birds come closer, upright and imperturbable, with the dignified tread of strict headmasters, until Henry Eld completely disappears into the field of black and white.