Arms of the British Antarctic Territory

Melsom Rocks

(Coronation Island)

British Antarctic Territory

Location: 60° 30' S 46° 10' 59" W
rising c. 30m above sea level W of Penguin Point, Coronation Island, and N of Despair Rocks, were probably sighted by Powell and Palmer in December 1821; charted by Sørlle, 1912-13, and named after Kapt. Henrik Govenius Melsom (1870-1946), Norwegian Manager, Thule Whaling Company, who employed Sørlle as Gunner in Paal, 1912-13, and who in 1925-26, off the South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands, operated the whale factory ship Lancing (Kapt. Hans P. Hansen), the first ship to be fitted with a slipway for hauling whales to the deck. The rocks were recharted by Discovery Investigations in 1933.