The flag of the British Antarctic Territory was granted on 21 April 1998. It features the coat of arms granted on 1 August 1963, a year after the

British Antarctic Territory The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between ...

, a

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

, was created. Previously, the Territory was a part of the

Falkland Islands Dependencies The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the various British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica which were governed from the Falkland Islands and its capital Port Sta ...

and used the same

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

. On 30 May 1969, a blue ensign with the British Antarctic Territory coat of arms in the fly was introduced as a civil ensign.

Description

The flag is a

white ensign The White Ensign, at one time called the St George's Ensign due to the simultaneous existence of a cross-less version of the flag, is an ensign worn on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments. It consists of a red St George's Cross on ...

, without a cross, with the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

in the canton, defaced with the coat of arms of the British Antarctic Territory, introduced in 1952. The coat of arms features a lion, representing the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and a penguin, representing the native wildlife. The crest of the coat of arms is the RRS ''Discovery'', which first took

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 ...

and

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

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 ...

as part of 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 (1839–18 ...

in 1901. She is currently a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. The motto on the coat of arms is "Research and Discovery". The official description is as follows:

Use and related flags

Flag of British Antarctic Territory (48102042682)

The flag flies over the British research stations in the Territory and at the headquarters of the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Vessels of the British Antarctic Survey use a

blue ensign The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or Defacement (flag), defaced with a Heraldic badge, ...

defaced with the shield from the coat of arms, which can be seen below. This ensign was introduced by Royal Warrant on 30 May 1969. The flag of the

Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territory The Commissioner for the British Antarctic Territory (BAT), is the head of government in the Antarctic Territory of the United Kingdom. As one of the British Overseas Territories, the commissioner is appointed by the monarch of the United Kingd ...

, a position currently held by

Ben Merrick Benjamin Robert Merrick is a British civil servant who was Director of Overseas Territories at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from August 2017 until July 2021. He held the position of Commissioner of the British Antarctic Ter ...

, is also seen below. The flag is the only flag of any British dependency to have ever used the white ensign.

Description

Use and related flags

Other images

References

See also