Arms of the British Antarctic Territory

Telefon Bay

(Port Foster)

British Antarctic Territory

Location: 62° 55' 27" S 60° 39' 47" W
NW end of Port Foster (q.v.), Deception Island, was charted by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1908-10, in 1909 and called Deception Bay; later named Baie du Telefon after SS Telefon (Telefon Rocks, q.v.) which was beached for the winter of 1909 on this bay. An Argentine refuge was established on the SW side of the bay for seasonal occupation, 23 March 1949, and called 'Thorne' after Coronel de Marina D. Juan Bautista Thorne (1807-85), of the Argentine Navy; the refuge was twice damaged by storm and rebuilt. Volcanic eruption in December 1967 formed an ephemeral new island in the bay (Islote Marinero Suárez, q.v.). A Chilean refuge on the bay was totally destroyed by volcanic activity in February 1969.