Arms of the British Antarctic Territory

Snow Island

(South Shetland Islands)

British Antarctic Territory

Location: 62° 46' 33" S 61° 22' 59" W
separated from Livingston Island to the NE by Morton Strait and from Smith Island to the SW by Boyd Strait, was sighted by Smith, 19 February 1819, and roughly charted by sealers from 1820 onwards; called Monroe Island either after James Monroe (1758-1831), President of the United States, 1816-24, or after Palmer's sloop James Monroe; further charted by the Russian Antarctic Expedition, 24 January 1821. The island was later named descriptively Snow Isle or Snow Island. The position of the island was checked by Foster by observations from different stations on Deception Island in January-March 1829. The island was further charted by an RN Hydrographic Survey Unit from John Biscoe, 1951-52. The island was photographed from the air by the Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition in 1956.