Port Foster is one of the safest harbours in Antarctica, located in Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands.
Port Foster is one of the safest harbours in Antarctica, located in Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands.
The harbour was known to sealers as early as 1820, and in its early history was called Port Williams, after Captain William Smith's brig, Williams; or Yankee Harbor, because of the number of American sealers who harboured there.
The port, briefly called Yankee Harbour and Port Dunbar, was named Port Foster after Henry Foster, captain of HMS Chanticleer and leader of the first scientific expedition to the island in Jan.-March 1829. The expedition, based in Pendulum Cove, made gravitational and magnetic measurements, produced the first topographic map, made temperature measurements, and made a hydrographic survey. [1]
Former names for the port have remained for other features in the same archipelago — Williams Point and Yankee Harbor.
The centre of Deception Island is a caldera, formed by a gigantic volcanic eruption and later flooded. This has created the 10 by 7 km (6.2 by 4.3 mi) basin-like harbour of Port Foster. The entrance to Port Foster is only 560 m (1,840 ft) wide and is named Neptune's Bellows.
The benthic zone of Port Foster is of great ecological interest due to the natural disturbance induced by the volcanic activity. Two areas have been collectively protected as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No.145. [2]
Deception Island is an island in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbor, which is occasionally troubled by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volcano, which seriously damaged local scientific stations in 1967 and 1969. The island previously held a whaling station it is now the most popular tourist destination with over 15,000 visitors per year. Two research stations are operated by Argentina and Spain during the summer season. While various countries have asserted sovereignty, it is still administered under the Antarctic Treaty System.
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of 3,687 km2 (1,424 sq mi). They lie about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between 430 and 900 km southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for non-military purposes.
Livingston Island is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60° south latitude in 1819, a historic event that marked the end of a centuries-long pursuit of the mythical Terra Australis Incognita and the beginning of the exploration and utilization of real Antarctica. The name Livingston, although of unknown derivation, has been well established in international usage since the early 1820s.
The Fildes Peninsula is a 7 km (4.3 mi) long peninsula that forms the south-western end of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It was named from association with nearby Fildes Strait by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1960; the strait was likely named for Robert Fildes, a British sealer of the 1800s.
Shopski Cove is a 2.6 km wide cove indenting for 1.9 km the southwest coast of Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, between Triangle Point and the westernmost extremity of the moraine spit of Provadiya Hook protecting Yankee Harbour. Shape enhanced as a result of Bravo Glacier’s retreat in the late 20th and early 21st century. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers operating from Yankee Harbour.
Neptune's Bellows is a channel on the southeast side of Deception Island forming the entrance to Port Foster, in the South Shetland Islands. The name, after the Roman sea god Neptune, was appended by American sealers prior to 1822 because of the strong gusts experienced in this narrow channel.
Pendulum Cove is a cove at the north-east side of Port Foster, Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The name of the cove derives from the pendulum and magnetic observations made there by the British expedition under Henry Foster in 1829.
Sewing-Machine Needles, also known as Rocas Ministro Ezcurra is a group of three prominent rock needles, the highest 45 m above water, lying close southeast of Rancho Point, Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands. The name Sewing-Machine Rock was given by whalers for what was originally a conspicuous natural arch. Needles is now considered the more suitable descriptive term; an earthquake tremor in 1924 caused the arch to collapse. The name Rocas Ministro Ezcurra was given by Dr Douglas Mawson, leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1912-14.
Yankee Harbour is a small inner harbour entered from Shopski Cove between Glacier Bluff and Spit Point, indenting the south-west side of Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is 2.35 km (1.46 mi) long in west-south-west to east-north-east direction, and 1.6 km (0.99 mi) wide, and is bounded by Provadiya Hook to the south-west, Parvomay Neck to the north and east, and Kladara Beach to the south.
Telefon Bay is a small bay on the north-west coast of Port Foster, Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It is surmounted by Telefon Ridge. The name appears on the chart of the French Antarctic Expedition under Charcot, 1908–10.
San Telmo Island is an island forming the west side of Shirreff Cove on the north-west coast of Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It has a surface area of 22 hectares.
Essex Point is a point at the northwest end of Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It forms the west side of the entrance to Barclay Bay and the northeast side of the entrance to Svishtov Cove, and is surmounted by Drong Hill.
Coppermine Peninsula is the 1.7 km long, 500 m wide and rising to 105 m rugged rocky promontory forming the northwest extremity of Alfatar Peninsula and Robert Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica and lying between English Strait to the west and Carlota Cove to the east. It is linked to Alfatar Peninsula to the southeast by a narrow isthmus bounded by Carlota Cove to the north and the 1 km wide and 460 m indenting Coppermine Cove to the south. The feature is named in association with the adjacent Coppermine Cove, a descriptive name given by sealers in about 1821 from the copper-coloured staining of the lavas and tuffs in the area.
La Morenita is a conspicuous rocky hill rising to 93 m in the southwest extremity of Half Moon Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It surmounts the Argentine Antarctic base Cámara situated in its northern foothills, Menguante Cove to the northeast and Mugla Passage to the south. The area was visited by early 19th century sealers operating from nearby Yankee Harbour.
Collins Point is a small but prominent headland 1.4 km (0.87 mi) west-south-west of Fildes Point, on the south side of Port Foster, Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It was charted by a British expedition under Foster, 1828–31. It was named by Lieutenant Commander D.N. Penfold, Royal Navy, following his survey of the island in 1948–49, for Rear Admiral Kenneth Collins of the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty.
Mount Pond is a peak, 550 m (1,800 ft) in height, standing 2.8 km (1.7 mi) east-south-east of Pendulum Cove, on Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The name appears on an 1829 chart based upon survey work by the British expedition under Foster, 1828–31. It was probably named for John Pond, noted English astronomer and director of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich at that time.
Hospital Point is a point formed by an ice cliff with a small amount of rock exposed at its base, lying at the north side of Yankee Harbour immediately east of Glacier Bluff, Greenwich Island, in the South Shetland Islands. It was charted and named "Rocky Point" by Discovery Investigations personnel on the Discovery II in 1935. In order to avoid duplication the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee rejected this name in 1961 and substituted a new one. Hospital Point derives from "Hospital Cove", a name for Yankee Harbour in common use among British sealers in the 1820s and British whalers in the 1920s.
Crater Lake is a volcanic crater, now filled with water, lying north-west of Mount Kirkwood on the south side of Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The descriptive name was given by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) in 1959.
South East Point is a point 1.9 km (1.2 mi) east-north-east of Fildes Point, marking the south-eastern point of Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It was charted by a British expedition 1828–31, under Henry Foster. The name was proposed in 1949 by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, following a survey of the island by Lieutenant Commander D.N. Penfold, Royal Navy, in 1948–49.
Fumarole Bay is a bay on the southwest side of Port Foster in the interior of Deception Island, in the South Shetland Islands. Having a similar name in the same island is the Vapour Col.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document: "Port Foster".(content from the Geographic Names Information System )
Coordinates: 62°58′37″S60°39′0″W / 62.97694°S 60.65000°W
 | This Deception Island location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
