Arms of the British Antarctic Territory

Stefansson Sound

(Black Coast)

British Antarctic Territory

Location: 69° 35' 14" S 62° 17' 24" W
extending N-S and separating Hearst Island (q.v.) from Black Coast, was photographed from the air by Wilkins, 20 December 1928, and named Stefansson Strait after Dr Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962), American Arctic explorer, ethnologist and polar specialist of Canadian birth and Icelandic parentage; Leader of expeditions to the Canadian Western Arctic, 1906-07 and 1908-12, and Commander of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18, which discovered three islands of the Queen Elizabeth Islands; author of 'The Friendly Arctic' (1921) and other works. Wilkins described the feature as a wide channel in c. 70°40'S, trending SW and then W from Weddell Sea into Bellingshausen Sea, and separating Graham Land from the mainland of Antarctica. Called Beckmann og Mathisens Stredet after the Norwegian whale gunners Søren Beckmann and Gustav Mathisen who, in February 1924, reached Marguerite Bay in their whale catchers and reported the existence of a very deep bay, or a channel extending E-wards to the Weddell Sea. The feature was reportedly identified from the air by Ellsworth, 21 November 1935, when it 'appeared to be not more than three miles [5 km] wide'. Following study of Ellsworth's photographs and logs, it was concluded that the result of his flight 'seems to be to compress Stefansson Strait and shift it northward as compared with Wilkins' reconnaissance map. Its eastern entrance seems to lie mainly north of the 70th parallel'. In October 1936, a British Graham Land Expedition sledge party reached 72°03'S on George VI Sound and established that no strait separates Graham Land from mainland Antarctica to N of this latitude. In November-December 1936, another British Graham Land Expedition sledge party crossed from Wordie Ice Shelf almost to the Weddell Sea in c. 69°45'S, discovered and surveyed a large transverse depression in 69°25'S, and a broad glacier (Clifford Glacier, q.v.) in 70°25'S, but saw no evidence of a strait. Further study of Ellsworth's photographs, in comparison with Wilkins' photographs and in conjunction with the British Graham Land Expedition preliminary reports, led to the suggestion that the feature named by Wilkins was 'a major embayment and not a through channel'; the name in the form Stefansson Inlet was applied to the feature, which was shown running SW for c. 90 km from its N entrance in c. 69°30'S. This adjustment entailed re-orientation of Wilkins' photographs P and Q with which Wilkins, in June 1938, was reported to have concurred. During chart compilation by USHO in 1939 the 'major valley depression' (Mercator Ice Piedmont, q.v.) shown by Joerg was wrongly identified with the large transverse depression lying N of the British Graham Land Expedition 1936 sledge route. As a result of this misidentification, all the other features on Joerg's map were moved S-wards and Stefansson Inlet was shown as an inlet opening towards the N between 70°05' and 70°30'S (Smith Inlet, q.v.). From further study of Wilkins' and Ellsworth's photographs and logs, it was suggested that the feature thought by Ellsworth to be Stefansson Strait must in fact have been Lurabee Glacier (q.v.), but it was concluded that there was insufficient evidence 'to give a definite location to Stefansson 'Strait' or 'Inlet''. Later examination of Ellsworth's photographs showed that his Stefansson Strait was in fact Mobiloil Inlet (q.v.). In December 1940, the feature photographed from the air by Wilkins was surveyed from the ground and further photographed from the air by the United States Antarctic Service; it was shown as a strait separating an island (Hearst Island) from the mainland coast, but was not recognized as Wilkins' Stefansson Strait and was called Boggs Strait after S.W. Boggs (Cape Boggs, q.v.). In reviewing USHO chart 2562, 1943, Hinks concluded that Stefansson Inlet was wrongly placed; he suggested that the Stefansson Strait of Wilkins' photographs was 'nothing but the Weddell Sea', but that the Stefansson Strait which Wilkins had described as cutting through Graham Land was probably the large transverse depression N of the British Graham Land Expedition sledge route. Later comparison of Wilkins' photograph Q with the United States Antarctic Service air and ground photographs proved that Wilkins' Stefansson Strait and the United States Antarctic Service's Boggs Strait were in fact synonymous: Stefansson Strait, as now defined. Following survey by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey-the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition from 'Stonington Island' in November 1947, the identity of the present feature was finally established.