Stonington Island
| Stonington Island | |
 Stonington Island | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 68°10’60"S, 67°0’0"W |
| Data | |
Stonington Island is a small island in Marguerite Bay off western Graham Land in the British Antarctic Territory. It was the site of Stonington Base, established by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1946.
Stonington Island was also the location of the United States 'East' base, neighbouring the British base. The American station was established in 1939 by the US Antarctic Service Expedition and then later reoccupied in 1947–48 by the private Finn Ronne Antarctic Expedition, and throughout this latter period there was cooperation between the two stations. The British sledging teams were well trained and provided ground control for the American aircrafts carrying out aerial photography. The data was made available to both expeditions.
Stonington Base
| Stonington Base | |
 | |
|---|---|
| Information |
Stonington ‘Base E’ on Stonington Island was established in February 1946 and had two periods of operation from 1946–50 and 1960–75 when the base permanently closed. The famous polar explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs was the Base Commander in 1948 and 1949.
The station's closure in 1950 was due to continuing difficulties in relief by ship, caused by bad sea ice conditions but it reopened in 1960 when a new hut was erected. The research in these later years focused on geology, glaciology and meteorology.
The hut is of historical importance in the early period of exploration and later British Antarctic Survey (BAS) history of the 1960s and 1970s. The site was designated a Historic Site and Monument in 1995 and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust too charge of maintenance work later. There are some 500 artefacts on site.
Outside links
- Stonington Visitor Guide – Antarctic Treaty
- Stonington blog