Dundee Island
| Dundee Island | |
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| Location: | 63°28’59"S, 55°57’58"W |
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Dundee Island is an ice-covered island lying east of the north-eastern tip of Graham Land. It is part of the Joinville Island Group, lying south of Joinville Island itself.
Dundee is separated from Joinville Island by Active Sound and Firth of Tay.
Discovery and name
The island was sighted by Ross in 1842-43. It was discovered as a separate island on 8 January 1893, by the Dundee Whaling Expedition of that year, and was named by Captain Thomas Robertson of the Active after the whaling fleet's home port, Dundee in Angus. (The expedition was made up of four ships, and while it was successful in extending knowledge of the Antarctic, it was unsuccessful in finding a commercial whale fishery.)
The Dundee expedition also named 'Active Sound' from its lead ship and 'Firth of Tay' from the water of their home port.
Lincoln Ellsworth, the American businessman and explorer established a base on Dundee Island for ski-equipped aircraft and accompanied by the pilot Herbert Hollick-Kenyon, he took off on the 23 November 1935 for the first crossing of the Antarctic by aeroplane.
The island was photographed from the air by the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition of 1956-57.
References
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Dundee Island