Anvers Island, Antarctic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a
high, mountainous island 38 miles long, which is the largest feature in the
Palmer Archipelago, lying southwest of Brabant Island at the southwestern
end of the group. Anvers Island is located at 64°33′S 63°35′W. Named in 1898
by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Adrien de Gerlache after the city
Antwerp in Belgium.

Palmer Station

The Palmer Station on Anvers Island is located at (64°46′S 64°03′W) and is
Antarctica's only U.S. station north of the Antarctic Circle. Construction
finished in 1968. Around 50 people can inhabit Palmer Station at one time.
The station is named for Nathaniel B. Palmer, likely to have been one of the
first three persons to see Antarctica. There are science labs in the station
as well as a dock.

The former station of the British Antarctic Survey

On Anvers Island, the British Antarctic Survey built and operated a station
for the purpose of survey and geology. The station of the British Antarctic
Survey consisted of a hut and was occupied from February 27, 1955 until
January 10, 1958. In 1958, the station of the British Antarctic Survey was
closed when local work was completed. The hut of station of the British
Antarctic Survey was loaned to the U.S. Government on July 2, 1963, which
converted it into a biological laboratory in January 1965 for use by
American scientists at the nearby Palmer Station. The station of the British
Antarctic Survey was open in support of an air facility from 1969 until 1971
The station of the British Antarctic Survey was destroyed by fire on
December 28, 1971 while being renovated by the British Antarctic Survey.
Debris was removed by the members of the US Antarctic Program in 1990/1991.
Only concrete foundations remain.

A skiway was in use from 1969 to 1973. The air operations were transferred
to Adelaide (Station T) in 1973 when the skiway deteriorated. The skyway
remained intermittently in use until November 15, 1993.

Ship aground.

On 11 February 1972 the Lindblad Explorer ran aground near La Plaza Point,
Antarctica. She was towed to Buenos Aires, Argentina and then to
Kristiansand, Norway for repairs.

Cultural references

Anvers Island was the scene of the protagonist Grim Fiddle's "kingdom" and his later imprisonment in John Calvin Batchelor's novel The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica. Fiddle was an adventurer in a dystopian future world with many references to Norse mythology.