Lassiter Coast

The Lassiter Coast is a portion of the east coast of Palmer Land in the British Antarctic Territory: this coast extends from Cape Mackintosh to Cape Adams.

The northern portion of this coast was discovered and photographed from the air by the United States Antarctic Service in 1940. During 1947 the entire extent of the coast was photographed from the air by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition under Finn Ronne while the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey charted it on the ground from Stonington Island 1947-8.

The name 'Lassiter Coast' is after Captain James W. Lassiter of the United States Army Air Forces, who as chief pilot was instrumental in the overall success of the Ronne aerial exploratory programme. Lassiter was the pilot not only on the flight southwest from Cape Adams, extending the discoveries to 76ºS 72º30' W (the Mount Hassage area), but also on the flight south-east to about 79° S 43° 45' W, on which the seaward edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf and the west and central edge of the Filchner Ice Shelf were sighted and photographed for the first time.

The name of Lassiter had originally been applied to the northern part of Ronne Ice Shelf.

The coast was further photographed from the air by the United States Navy, 1965-67, and mapped from air photographs by the United States Geological Survey.

Location

• Location map: 73°45’0"S, 62°0’0"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Lassiter Coast