Purvis Glacier

Purvis Glacier is a glacier flowing generally northeast into the west side of Possession Bay, on the north coast of South Georgia.

The feature was charted by the German Antarctic Expedition under Wilhelm Filchner, 1911–12, and originally named 'John Murray-Gletscher' after Sir John Murray (1841-1914), British marine biologist and oceanographer; naturalist in HMS Challenger 1872-76, who was a benefactor of Belgian Antarctic Expedition, and from whom the Murray Snowfield is named and also Cape Murray in the British Antarctic Territory.

In 1930 the glacier was surveyed by Discovery Investigations and was renamed 'Purvis Glacier', possibly to avoid confusion with the Murray Glacier in northern Victoria Land (in the Ross Dependency: New Zealand's Antarctic territory). The replacement name 'Purvis' is from Petty Officer J. Purvis of the Royal Navy, a member of the Discovery Investigations hydrographic survey party in this area in the motor-boat Alert in 1928-30. (Point Purvis is also named after Petty Officer Purvis.)

Location

• Location: 54°6’24"S, 37°11’5"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands: Purvis Glacier