Låvebrua Island
Låvebrua Island | |
Location | |
Location: | 63°1’18"S, 60°34’35"W |
Highest point: | 312 feet |
Data | |
Population: | 0 |
Låvebrua Island is a little island, rising to 312 feet above sea level, lying just over half a mile south-east of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, part of the British Antarctic Territory. It is to the east-south-east of the latter island's South Point.
Charting and naming
Låvebrua Island was charted by a British expedition under Henry Foster, 1828–31. The name though was given at some time after 1905 by Norwegian whalers operating from Deception Island. It was certainly in common use as early as 1927 as Laavbrua (the older Norwegian spelling). The is descriptive, meaning literally "threshing floor bridge": this was a term used for the inclined plane of the whaling factories' slipway, so named from the inclined threshing floor found in a traditional Norwegian barn.
The isle was recharted by Discovery Investigations in 1927.
Various names have been attached to the island in rival countries' charts: Johannessen in 1919-20 called it 'Bismark'; the Chilean Antarctic Expedition of 1947 marked it as Islote Lautaro after the patrol ship Lautaro while the Argentine Antarctic Expedition of 1946-7 called it Islote Chaco after their own transport ship, the Chaco
The island was recharted by a Royal Navy Hydrographic Survey Unit in 1948-49, and called 'Jon Islet' after the younger son of Lieutenant Commander D.N. Penfold of the Royal Navy (from whom Penfold Point is named). The original name was restored by the UK Antarctic Place Names Committee, though with the modern Norwegian spelling of Låvebrua.
References
- Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: Låvebrua Island