Robbery Beaches are beaches extending along the north side of
Byers Peninsula
Byers Peninsula is a mainly ice-free peninsula forming the west end of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It occupies , borders Ivanov Beach to the northeast and is separated from Rotch Dome on the east by the ridge of ...
,
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
,
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 contine ...
between
Essex Point
Essex Point is a point at the northwest end of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It forms the west side of the entrance to Barclay Bay and the northeast side of the entrance to Svishtov Cove, and is su ...
to the west and
Nedelya Point to the east. They are crossed by
Eridanus Stream and
Bedek Stream.
The name ‘Robbery Beach’ was used by
James Weddell
James Weddell (24 August 1787 – 9 September 1834) was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74° 15′ S—a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antarct ...
in 1820–23. It arose from the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
robbery of sealskins collected by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
brig ''Charity'' (Capt. Charles H. Barnard) of New York in January 1821. There was fierce competition between British and American sealers in the area during the early 1820s.
Location
The beaches are centred at (British mapping in 1968, detailed Spanish mapping in 1992, and Bulgarian mapping in 2005 and 2009).
Maps
Chart of South Shetland including Coronation Island, &c.from the exploration of the sloop Dove in the years 1821 and 1822 by George Powell Commander of the same. Scale ca. 1:200000. London: Laurie, 1822
Península Byers, Isla Livingston.Mapa topográfico a escala 1:25000. Madrid: Servicio Geográfico del Ejército, 1992. (Map image on p. 55 of the linked study)
* L.L. Ivanov et al.
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 2005.
* L.L. Ivanov
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.
* L.L. Ivanov.
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017.
In fiction
Robbery Beaches are part of the mise-en-scène in the Antarctica
thriller novel
Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Su ...
''The Killing Ship'' authored by
Elizabeth Cruwys
Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medici ...
and
Beau Riffenburgh under their joint alias
Simon Beaufort
Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medici ...
in 2016, and are shown on a sketch map of Livingston Island illustrating the book.
''The Killing Ship.''
Susanna Gregory Website, 2019
Gallery
Byers Peninsula, eastern part.jpg, Eastern Byers Peninsula
Byers Peninsula is a mainly ice-free peninsula forming the west end of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It occupies , borders Ivanov Beach to the northeast and is separated from Rotch Dome on the east by the ridge of ...
in Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
with left to right Lair Hill, Robbery Beaches, Sparadok Point
Sparadok Point ( bg, нос Спарадок, ‘Nos Sparadok’ \'nos spa-ra-'dok\) is a sharp ice-free point projecting 200 m from the coast of Byers Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica with a shingle spit ...
, Tsamblak Hill
Tsamblak Hill ( bg, хълм Цамблак, ‘Halm Tsamblak’ \'h&lm 'tsam-blak\) is a rocky hill trending 900 m in north-south direction, 450 m wide and rising to 113 m in eastern Byers Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Isla ...
and Negro Hill
Negro Hill is a conspicuous rocky hill, double-peaked with a small tarn in between, rising to 100 m at South Beaches on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It surmounts Fontus Lake on the south. The are ...
in the middle ground; and Rowe Point, Cutler Stack
Cutler Stack is a conspicuous sea stack extending and rising to , lying off Ivanov Beach in the south of Barclay Bay, western Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers.
The ...
, Ivanov Beach
Ivanov Beach ( bg, Иванов бряг, Ivanov bryag, ) is a mostly ice-free beach on the Drake Passage stretching in southwest–northeast direction on the southeast coast of Barclay Bay in western Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands in ...
, Nedelya Point, Urvich Wall surmounted by the slopes of Rotch Dome
Rotch Dome is the sloping ice dome rising to 360 m immediately east of Byers Peninsula, and between Barclay Bay and Walker Bay in Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is bounded by Urvich Wall to the west, surmounting Ivanov ...
, and Clark Nunatak
Clark Nunatak is a rocky peak rising to 147 m at the southwest edge of the ice cap of Rotch Dome in western Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica near the south extremity of Urvich Wall. It surmounts Volturnus Lake on the ...
in the background
ASPA-126-Byers-Peninsula.png, Topographic map of Antarctic Specially Protected Area An Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is an area on the continent of Antarctica, or on nearby islands, which is protected by scientists and several different international bodies. The protected areas were established in 1961 under the Antarct ...
''ASPA 126 Byers Peninsula''
File:Powell-Chart-1822.png, Fragment of George Powell's 1822 chart of the South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
and South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula[Simon Beaufort
Susanna Gregory is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. She writes detective fiction, and is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medici ...]
Notes
References
Robbery Beaches.
SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
.
Beaches of Livingston Island
{{LivingstonIsland-geo-stub