Lewis Bay is a bay indenting the north coast of Ross Island,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, between

Mount Bird Mount Bird is a high shield volcano standing about south of Cape Bird, the northern extremity of Ross Island. It was mapped by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, and apparently named by them aft ...

and Cape Tennyson.

History

The bay was charted by the

British National Antarctic Expedition The ''Discovery'' Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–184 ...

under

Robert Falcon Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...

, 1901–04. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1964 for Captain Price Lewis, commanding officer of the during the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Operation Deep Freeze Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...

in 1959, and who in 1963 and 1964 was assistant chief of staff and ship group commander of the US Naval Support Force in Antarctica.

Air crash

On 28 November 1979 an Air New Zealand aircraft carrying 257 people on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

on the side of

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley), the highest active volcano in Antarctica, and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth-highest ultra mountain on the continent. With a summ ...

, killing everyone aboard and scattering bodies and aircraft debris on the slopes above the bay. Not all the bodies were subsequently recovered.

Antarctic Specially Protected Area

An area above Lewis Bay, on the lower slopes of Mount Erebus and extending to the coast, is protected as Antarctic Specially Protected Area No.156 because it has been declared a tomb in order to ensure that the area be left in peace. The declaration was made as a mark of respect and sympathy with the relatives of those who died in the 1979 crash, and with the Government and people of New Zealand, in remembrance and in order to protect the site's emotional values.

Historic site

A stainless steel cross was erected in January 1987 on a rocky promontory 3 km from the 1979 crash site as a mark of respect and in remembrance of those who died. The cross has been designated a Historic Site or Monument (HSM 73), following a proposal by New Zealand to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

References

Bays of Ross Island Antarctic Specially Protected Areas Historic Sites and Monuments of Antarctica {{RossIsland-geo-stub