North Foreland, King George Island

North Foreland is the north-east point of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands in the British Antarctic Territory, and the eastern entrance point of Emerald Cove. It is the northernmost extremity of the Island.

This headland was roughly charted, 16 October 1819, by William Smith (from whom Smith Island is named). Smith who made the first recorded landing in Antarctica in this vicinity, from the brig Williams, and took formal possession of the island in the name of King George III. Smith named the point after the North Foreland in Kent: the easternmost point of land in that county, just as the present feature was the easternmost point seen on this voyage.

The point was wrongly marked as 'Cape Melville' on some early charts, which was repeated by later cartographers: Cape Melville properly so called is the island's south-eastern point.

The headland was charted by Discovery Investigations in 1937, when a landing was made, on 6 January, for the purpose of taking astronomical observations. It was photographed from the air by the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition in 1956.

Location

• Location map: 61°53’37"S, 57°41’12"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of The British Antarctic Territory: North Foreland