Anvers Island

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 64.55° S 63.58° W. Named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition under Adrien de Gerlache after the city Antwerp in Belgium.

Palmer Station

1 Palmer Station
2 The former station of the British Antarctic Survey
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Palmer Station

The Palmer Station on Anvers Island is located at (64.77° S 64.05° W) and is Antarctica's only U.S. station north of the Antarctic Circle. Although it is on an island, permanent ice often connects it with the mainland. 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 and a helicopter pad.

[edit] 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.

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'. See - John Batchelor. Fiddle was an adventurer in a dystopian future world with many references to Norse mythology.