Peacock Sound

Peacock Sound

72°45′S99°00′W / 72.750°S 99.000°W / -72.750; -99.000. An ice-filled sound, 135 nautical miles (250 km; 155 mi) long and 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) wide, separating Thurston Island from the Eights Coast. The sound is not navigable by ships, it being occupied by the western part of Abbot Ice Shelf. The feature was discovered by members of the USAS in flights from the ship Bear in February 1940, and was further delineated from air photos taken by United States Navy Operation Highjump in December 1946. The sound was first noted to parallel the entire south coast of Thurston Island, thereby establishing insularity, by the United States Navy Bellingshausen Sea Expedition in February 1960. Named after the sloop of war Peacock in which Captain William L. Hudson, in company with the tender Flying Fish under Lieutenant William M. Walker, both of the USEE, 1838-42, sailed along the edge of the pack ice to the north of Thurston Island for several days in March 1839.