William Scoresby Archipelago is a group of islands which extends northward from the coast just east of

William Scoresby Bay William Scoresby Bay is a coastal embayment at the western side of William Scoresby Archipelago, Antarctica. It is long and wide, with shores marked by steep rock headlands and snow-free hills rising to 210 m. The practical limits of the bay ...

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 ...

. The more important islands in the group are Bertha, Islay, Couling, and the Sheehan Islands. Most of the islands and features in this

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

were discovered in February 1936 by

Discovery Investigations The Discovery Investigations were a series of scientific cruises and shore-based investigations into the biology of whales in the Southern Ocean. They were funded by the British Colonial Office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, ...

(DI) personnel on the RSS ''William Scoresby''. They named the group after their ship.

Islands and features

The northernmost island of any note is Farrington Island. east is a group of small islands called the Klakkane Islands. The Klakkanes were charted and named ''klakkane'' (the lumps) by Norwegian cartographers from aerial photographs taken by the

Lars Christensen Expedition Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was bo ...

(LCE) in January 1937. south-southeast of Farrington is Couling Island, which is long. The next significant island is Islay, which is long and sits south of Couling and north of Bertha Island. DI personnel probably named it after Islay, an island in the

Hebrides The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebr ...

archipelago in Scotland. McDonald Point marks the western end of Islay. At the southeast side of Islay is a small group called the Sheehan Islands. These were first discovered on February 18, 1931, by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...

. Believing the islands were a set of inland

nunataks A nunatak (from Inuit language, Inuit ''nunataq'') is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They are also called glacial islands. Examples are natural p ...

, he named one of the group Sheehan Nunatak after Sir

Harry Sheehan Sir Henry John Sheehan (27 December 188326 March 1941) was a senior Australian public servant and banker. Sheehan is best known for his time as head of the Department of the Treasury and as Governor of the Commonwealth Bank. Life and career H ...

, and BANZARE erroneously charted Sheehan Nunatak as lying behind the coastline. On February 27, 1936, DI personnel discovered the features were actually islands. The islands were more fully mapped by Norwegian cartographers from aerial photographs taken by the LCE in January and February 1937. Macfie Sound separates Islay from Bertha Island. The sound extends in an east–west direction, and is wide at its narrowest point. It was named for Lieutenant A.F. Macfie, a chart-maker for DI. Hum Island is a small island in the sound between Islay and Bertha. Bertha Island is long, and lies south of Islay at the east side of William Scoresby Bay. Warren Island is a small island in William Scoresby Bay, close south of the west end of Bertha Island. Point Appleby marks the western coast of an unnamed island south of Warren. It was charted and named by DI personnel as a point on the eastern shore of the bay, but air photos from the LCE indicated that it was actually a point on a small island near the bay shore.

Nearby islands

The Warnock Islands are a separate group to the north of the William Scoresby Archipelago. Dales Island is farther north than them.

References

Islands of Mac. Robertson Land {{MacRobertsonLand-geo-stub