[4] Count von Luckner, commander of the German raider Seeadler during the First World War, stopped off at Curtis Island in 1917 to replenish his stores from the castaway depot while attempting to make good his escape from New Zealand to South America.

[3] Cheeseman Island lies west-northwest from Curtis and is separated from the latter by the less than 1 km (0.62 mi) wide Stella Passage.

[6][7] Cliffs surround a central plateau at about 100 m (330 ft) elevation[8] and on the northeastern side continue below sea level.

The island lies at the western side of a 6.5 km (4.0 mi) wide shoal at less than 250 m (820 ft) depth on the Kermadec Ridge.

[1] The 2,550 km (1,580 mi) long Tonga-Kermadec arc extends from New Zealand's North Island to Tonga[8] and lies between the Havre Trough to the west and the Kermadec Trench to the east.

[26] Hydrothermal alteration by hydrothermal waters and the condensation of sulfuric acid[30] has yielded aluminite, alunite, anhydrite, chlorite, cristobalite, diaspore, gibbsite, hematite, kaolinite, metahalloysite, natroalunite, pyrite, quartz and smectite, with chlorite, diaspore, natroalunite and sulfur being the most common.

[21] Ice plant, herbs, grasses and sedges grow on the island,[32] with species including Asplenium obtusatum, Cyperus ustulatus, Disphyma australe, Lachnagrostis littoralis, Parietaria debilis, Solanum nigrum and Sonchus kirkii although the crater floor is mostly bare.

[32] Other birds reported from Curtis Island are blackbirds, starlings and song thrushes,[35] while there are no known mammals;[10] goats liberated on it in 1887 did not survive.

[38] A ship sailing close to Curtis Island in 1936 reported discoloured water in the area, although its position is not known with certainty.

[42] Numerous lines of evidence such as a shallowing of the surrounding sea[38] and the emergence of previously submarine rock features such as barnacles and wave-cut notches[9] indicate that[38] during the 20th century, the island has risen at a rate of 12 cm/year (4.7 in/year).

[12] It was discovered in 1979 by the R/V Vulkanolog[47] and named after it,[48] but its activity appears to have ceased[49] and it cannot be definitively correlated with Curtis Island.