Page 273 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Argentina

tierr a del fuego and ant ar c tic a  271

Livingston Island is rich in wildlife. Elephant,
Weddell, and leopard seals abound as well as
chinstrap and macaroni penguins. In the
19th century, thousands of seal traders used the
island as a major hunting ground and many
important historical sites remain, including an
abandoned sealing station.
Key
Main cruise routes
King George Island is home to
Adelie and gentoo penguin colonies
and its waters are a feeding area
D r a k e P a s s a g e Shetland for humpback whales. To the South Orkney
South
Islands and South
Islands
Georgia
B r a n s f i e l d S t r a i t
Deception Island

Elephant Island was the refuge
of Shackleton and his crew
G r a h a m L a n D The Antarctic Sound is known as
after the loss of the Endurance in 1916.
A memorial sits amid chinstrap
penguins at Point Wild.

Weddell “Iceberg Alley” for all the different icebergs
that float in its waters. Most spectacular
Larsen Ice Sea are the city-block-sized tabular bergs.
Shelf
0 kilometers 50
0 miles 50 The Endurance Expedition
In January 1916, British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship
Endurance was sunk by an ice floe in the Weddell Sea. Five
months of living on pack ice followed before the crew made
for Elephant Island in open
lifeboats. In arguably the
greatest feat of polar
exploration, Shackleton and
five others then embarked on
an 800-mile (1,300-km) voyage
by lifeboat to reach the
whaling station on South
Georgia. Landing on an
uninhabited side of the island,
they hiked 36 hours over
mountains, glaciers, and cliffs
before reaching their goal.
Snow Hill Island is off-the-beaten- Three failed rescue attempts
track Antarctica. Refuge to a nesting followed before Shackleton
colony of emperor penguins, it is finally reached his near-
accessed on icebreaker cruise ships starving men on Elephant The Endurance trapped in ice
that scythe through the pack ice of Island in August 1916. before sinking
the Weddell Sea.

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