Douglas Range
The Douglas Range is a sharp-crested mountain range along the east coast of Alexander Island in the British Antarctic Territory. It is in the north of the island, overlooking the north part of the George VI Sound, between latitudes 69° 20’ and 79° 40’. It has with peaks rising to 10,000 feet, in a range extending 75 miles in a northwest-southeast direction from Mount Nicholas to Mount Edred and forming a steep east escarpment of the island.
The highest mountain in the range is Mount Stephenson, at about 10,200 feet, and which is also the highest point of the island.
Mount Nicholas was seen in 1909 from a distance by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot. The full extent of the range was observed by Lincoln Ellsworth on his trans-Antarctic flight of 23 November 1935, and its east escarpment first roughly mapped from air photos taken on that flight by W.L.G. Joerg. The east face of the range was roughly surveyed from George VI Sound by the British Graham Land Expedition in 1936 and resurveyed by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1948-50. The entire range, including the west slopes, was mapped in detail from air photos taken by the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition of 1947-48, by Searle of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey in 1960.
The Douglas Range was named by the British Graham Land Expedition of 1934-37, for Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Douglas, chairman of the Expedition’s Advisory Committee, who was a member of the Discovery Committee from 1928 until his death in 1939, and formerly a hydrographer in the Royal Navy.
The mountains of the Douglas Range
| Name | Coordinates | Height | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Nicholas | 69°22’0"S, 69°49’60"W | 4,806 feet | The northernmost mountain of the Douglas Range |
| Mount Spivey | 69°31’0"S, 69°49’60"W | 7,005 feet | |
| Mount Huckle | 69°37’60"S, 69°48’-0"W | 8,202 feet | |
| Mount Stephenson | 69°49’0"S, 69°43’0"W | 10,200 feet | The highest peak of the Douglas Range, also the highest point of Alexander Island |
| Mount Egbert | 69°57’0"S, 69°37’0"W | 9,498 feet | The second highest peak of the Douglas Range. |
| Mount Ethelwulf | 70°1’60"S, 69°34’0"W | 8,497 feet | |
| Mount Ethelred | 70°4’0"S, 69°28’60"W | 8,104 feet | |
| Mount Athelstan | 70°10’0"S, 69°16’0"W | 5,299 feet | |
| Lamina Peak | 70°31’60"S, 68°45’0"W | 4,199 feet | |
| Mount Edred | 70°34’60"S, 69°0’0"W | 7,201 feet | The southernmost mountain of the Douglas Range |
Location
- Location map: 69°34’59"S, 70°0’0"W
References
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Douglas Range
