DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS: LESKOV I. i6i 



Leskov Island 

 Lat. 56" 39f' S, long. 28° loi' W 



(Plates XIV and XV, fig. i ; Fig. 6) 



Leskov, which Hes some distance to the west of the arc formed by the other islands, 

 is the smallest in the South Sandwich Group. Its size has been over-estimated by those 

 who have previously visited it, for it is only 5^ cables in length, in the middle scarcely 

 3 cables in breadth, while its circumference is about ih miles. 



The island, as Filchner has stated,^ is crescentic in outline and is, no doubt, merely a 

 fragment of a volcanic cone. It appears to have resulted from a small eruption which 

 took place in deep water, and it is improbable that it was ever much larger than now. 

 The actual crater presumably lay immediately to the north-east of the existing land, in 

 the bight which Filchner calls Crater Bay. 



a 



b 



Fig. 6. Leskov Island: sketches by Lt.-Cmdr. J. Irving. 



a. Conical rock at the E end, seen from the SSE: distant 5 cables. 



b. From the SE : distant 6 cables. 



c. From the NE: distant 2 cables; Crater Bay in centre. 

 <1. From the W: distant 5 cables. 



During almost all the time that the island was under examination the summit was 

 shrouded in mist, and though the illustrations in Fig. 6 probably give a fairly correct 

 indication of its outline, the height (approximately 600 ft.) could not be determined 

 with any accuracy. By reason of the mist we were not able to decide with certainty 

 whether the island is still active volcanically — a point which Filchner also was obliged 

 to leave in doubt. We think it probable that Larsen was right in describing it as extinct ; 

 but since it had no glacier and on the summit only a thin covering of snow, we believe 

 that the ground is still warm. 



As will be seen from the chart deep soundings were obtained close inshore all round 

 the island. There is no place where a vessel might anchor, and the land is of such small 

 extent that it could never afford any protection. 



Crater Bay, on the north-east side, is flanked by sheer walls of rock falling almost 

 vertically from the summit to the sea. Seen from the west the island is domed in out- 

 line (Fig. 6 d), with a sloping terrace near the top and with precipitous cliffs at the 

 water-line. At the south-eastern corner there is a conspicuous conical rock, 375 ft. in 

 1 Filchner, Zutn Sechsteu Erdtcil, pp. 114-116, figs. 32-36 (Berlin, 1923). 



