Edward Bransfield Michael Smith
successful third attempt in October 1819 and even made a brief landing to claim the territory for King George III. Smith, a part-owner of the Williams, from the Northumberland colliery port of Blyth, had located the South Shetland Islands, a long chain of islands about 600 miles (nearly 1,000 km) south of the Falkland Islands and 80 miles (approximately 120 km) north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Rumours about Smith’s sighting spread quickly in South America and the Navy now acted quickly before rival American ships sailed to exploit potential new whale and seal hunting grounds. Captain William Shirreff, the senior naval officer in the area, promptly summoned Master and navigator, the 34-years old Edward Bransfield. Bransfield was given command of the 216-ton brig Williams and ordered to investigate, taking Smith and his crew to assist. Shirreff told the Admiralty in London, that Bransfield was “well qualified” for the task. But he also ordered Bransfield to “conceal every discovery,” to prevent others finding out. Sailing into mostly uncharted waters, Bransfield left Valparaiso in December 1819 with a complement of about 30 men and a year’s provisions. To underline the difficulties ahead, it needed nine days to sail the first 6 miles (10 km) south. Bransfield sailed the Williams along the chain of South Shetland Islands and took a small party ashore on King George Island, the largest, for the ritual of formally claiming the new territory. In January 1820, the Williams turned south into the unknown seas between the islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The 60-mile stretch of water is today known as the Bransfield Strait and is a main thoroughfare for ships carrying adventurers and tourists to the Peninsula. Midshipman Charles Poynter wrote the only surviving record of the historic moment when the clouds opened on January 30 to reveal the panorama of the Peninsula’s mountains, glaciers, and icefields. He wrote: “At 3 our notice was arrested by three very large icebergs and 20 minutes after we were unexpectedly astonished by the discovery of land SbW.” Poynter also speculated on whether the party had found the “long-contested existence of a Southern Continent.” The territory was named Trinity Land after the maritime body, a scattering of nearby islands was skirted and a striking 2,500 ft mountain, later called Mount Bransfield, was mapped. But any ambition Bransfield may have nurtured to make the first landing on the continent was dashed by persistent fog. It would be another 75 years before the first confirmed landing was made. Bransfield steered the Williams along the coast in dreadful weather and eventually reached Elephant Island, where Shackleton’s party from Endurance would be marooned over a century
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Image Opposite: Artist's image of the Williams, the brig under Bransfield’s command, alongside the Antarctic coast in 1820 © Jim Wilson 4