Williams Point
Williams Point is the north-eastern tip of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, in the British Antarctic Territory. Beyond it lie the Zed Islands to the north. It is the north-western entrance point of the McFarlane Strait.
The discovery of the South Shetland Islands was first reported in 1819 by William Smith, Master of the brig Williams: it is believed that the headland now known as Williams Point was the first part of the South Shetland Islands he sighted, on 19 February 1819, and hence the first recorded sighting of land in Antarctica.
The point was roughly charted by Smith and named Cape Williams after his brig Williams. In recent years the place name 'Williams Point' has been established in international usage. The point was recharted by Discovery Investigations in 1934-35. It was photographed from the air by the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition in 1956-57 and surveyed from the ground by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1957-59.
Location
- Location map: 62°27’5"S, 60°8’10"W
The point is at the northernmost point of Livingstone Island, five miles east of Desolation Island, a mile south of the Zed Islands and three and a half miles west of Duff Point on Greenwich Island.
References
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Williams Point
