King Edward VII Land and Related Topics

Marie Byrd Land

Unclaimed region of Antarctica.

Glaciers and rock outcrops in Marie Byrd Land seen from NASA's DC-8 aircraft on October 17, 2011

He named the peninsula adjacent to the Ross Sea King Edward VII Land and the scattered outcrops that were within sight, the Alexandra Mountains.

Sulzberger Bay

Images captured by Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar on 12 March and 16 March 2011. The newly formed icebergs can clearly be seen in the second image. (European Space Agency)

Sulzberger Bay (-77°N, -152°W) is a bay between Fisher Island and Vollmer Island, along the coast of King Edward VII Land.

The expedition ship RRS Discovery in the Antarctic alongside the Great Ice Barrier, now known as the Ross Ice Shelf

Discovery Expedition

The first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier .

Sir James Clark Ross, discoverer of the Ross Sea, the Ross Ice Shelf and McMurdo Sound

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, appointed leader of the Discovery Expedition

Ernest Shackleton, Third Officer on the Discovery

Royal Doulton bone china plate from the expedition, marked ""DISCOVERY" ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1901" around a penguin. Brought back by C Reginald Ford.

Shackleton, Scott and Wilson on 3 February 1903, on their return from the attempt to reach the South Pole

A modern photograph of the Discovery's old anchorage in Winter Quarters Bay, McMurdo Sound, alongside the Hut Point hut in the right background

Emperor penguins. The colony at Cape Crozier had been discovered by a party led by Charles Royds, in October 1902.

Drawing of two emperor penguins with chicks by Wilson (Sept. 1903)

The Dry Valleys in the western mountains of Victoria Land, discovered during the expedition's western journey.

The Vince memorial cross, erected on the Hut Point promontory

Further achievements included the discoveries of the Cape Crozier emperor penguin colony, King Edward VII Land, and the Polar Plateau (via the western mountains route) on which the South Pole is located.

Ross Sea

Deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth.

To the west of the sea lies Ross Island and Victoria Land, to the east Roosevelt Island and Edward VII Peninsula in Marie Byrd Land, while the southernmost part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf, and is about 200 mi from the South Pole.

Jameson Adams, Frank Wild and Eric Marshall (from left to right) plant the Union Jack at their southernmost position, 88° 23', on 9 January 1909. The photograph was taken by expedition leader Ernest Shackleton.

Nimrod Expedition

The first of three successful expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton.

Scottish industrialist Sir William Beardmore, later Lord Invernairn

The expedition's ship Nimrod departing for the South Pole

Edgeworth David, who headed the scientific team

Douglas Mawson, a late addition to the scientific team

Inside the Cape Royds Hut, winter 1908. Included in the picture are Shackleton (left background), Armytage (Standing background), Adams (smoking curved pipe), Wild (working on the sledge) and Joyce (extreme right, foreground). A poster advertising ladies' corsets hangs on the wall.

On the return journey. The party reach a depot on the Great Ice Barrier

Wild, Shackleton, Marshall and Adams aboard Nimrod after their southern journey

(l. to r.) Mackay, Edgeworth David, and Mawson at the Southern Magnetic Pole, 17 January 1909

Sir Ernest Shackleton: "What Nansen is to the North, Shackleton is to the South"—Roald Amundsen

On 17 May he signed a declaration stating that, "I am leaving the McMurdo base to you", and that he would seek to land further east, either at the Barrier Inlet visited briefly during the Discovery Expedition, or at King Edward VII Land.

Ernest Shackleton

Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.

Blue plaque marking the home of Ernest Shackleton at 12 Westwood Hill, Sydenham, London Borough of Lewisham

South Pole party: Frank Wild, Shackleton, Eric Marshall and Jameson Adams

Captioned "The South Pole", caricature of Shackleton in Vanity Fair, 6 October 1909

Shackleton embarked on an extensive lecture tour in which he talked not only about his own polar journeys but also those of Scott and Roald Amundsen

Launching the from the shore of Elephant Island, 24 April 1916

"All Safe, All Well", allegedly depicting Shackleton's return to Elephant Island, August 1916. A photograph of the departure of the James Caird in April was doctored by photographer Frank Hurley to create this image.

Shackleton statue by C.S. Jagger outside the Royal Geographical Society

Shackleton reluctantly agreed to look for winter quarters at either the Barrier Inlet—which Discovery had briefly visited in 1902—or King Edward VII Land.

Nobu Shirase

Japanese army officer and explorer.

Kuril islands, showing the Russian-Japanese division at various dates

He led the first Japanese Antarctic Expedition, 1910–12, which reached a southern latitude of 80°5′, and made the first landing on the coast of King Edward VII Land.

Map of Antarctica, showing (red rectangle) the area of the expedition's operations. Wellington (New Zealand) and Sydney (Australia) appear on the bottom edge of the map.

Japanese Antarctic Expedition

The first such expedition by a non-European nation.

Ice in the Ross Sea (the small black objects are seals)

Parsley Bay, Sydney Harbour, early 20th century

Map showing coastline of King Edward VII Land

These included the first landing on the coast of King Edward VII Land, the fastest recorded sledging journey, and the most easterly point along the Antarctic coast, to that date, reached by a ship.

Ernest Joyce

Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM (c.

These Greenwich buildings, now the National Maritime Museum, housed the Royal Hospital School for Navy Orphans during Joyce's childhood.

Ernest Shackleton, an early mentor for Ernest Joyce

Inside the Cape Royds Hut, winter 1908. Joyce is on the right, foreground. Also included in the picture are Shackleton (left background), Adams (smoking curved pipe), and Wild (working on the sledge).

Members of the Ross Sea Party, photographed in Australia before departure. Joyce is extreme left, back row.

Aurora, in New Zealand after the expedition, its temporary rudder visible

A depiction of Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith being drawn on the sledge

Shackleton was convinced that the ice was not secure enough as a landing ground, and could find no feasible alternative site on nearby King Edward VII Land.

Captain William Colbeck, captain of the Morning, pictured in 1902

William Colbeck (sea captain)

British seaman who distinguished himself on two Antarctic expeditions.

His work in the Antarctic was commemorated by the naming of Colbeck Bay at -71.63333°N, 170.08333°W and Cape Colbeck on the King Edward VII peninsula, at -77.11667°N, -158.01667°W.