Difference between revisions of "Template:POTD protected"

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'''[[Charles Wilkes]]''' was an [[United States Navy|American naval]] officer, ship's captain, and explorer. The Exploring Expedition, commonly known as the "Wilkes Expedition," included naturalists, botanists, a mineralogist, taxidermists, artists and a philologist, and it was carried by USS ''Vincennes'' (780 tons) and [[USS Peacock|USS ''Peacock'']] (650 tons), the brig USS ''Porpoise'' (230 tons), the store-ship USS ''Relief'', and two schooners, USS ''Sea Gull'' (110 tons) and USS ''Flying Fish'' (96 tons).
The '''[[Whitmore Mountains]]''' are an isolated mountain range of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the [[Marie Byrd Land]] region of [[Westarctica]]. They consist of three small mountains and a cluster of [[nunatak]]s arranged in a semicircular pattern extending over 15 miles. When researching the National Geographic Atlas map of [[Antarctica]], [[Grand Duke Travis]] was inspired by the fact that the Whitmore Mountains were located in the unclaimed section of Marie Byrd Land and they shared the name of his childhood best friend, [[Viscount of Whitmore|Neil Whitmoyer]]. Were it not for this immediate confirmation, it is entirely possible the Grand Duke might not have decided to move forward with his plan to claim Westarctica.


Departing from Hampton Roads on 18 August 1838, the expedition stopped at the Madeira Islands and Rio de Janeiro; visited Tierra del Fuego, Chile, Peru, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Samoa, and New South Wales; from Sydney sailed into the [[Southern Ocean|Antarctic Ocean]] in December 1839 and reported the discovery "of an [[Antarctica|Antarctic continent]] west of the [[Balleny Islands]]" of which it sighted the coast on 25 January 1840.
<p><small>Photo credit: U.S. Antarctic Program</small></p>
 
<p><small>Artist: Thomas Sully</small></p>
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Latest revision as of 16:35, 18 April 2025

Whitmore Mountains - Mt Chapman.jpg

The Whitmore Mountains are an isolated mountain range of the Transantarctic Mountains System, located in the Marie Byrd Land region of Westarctica. They consist of three small mountains and a cluster of nunataks arranged in a semicircular pattern extending over 15 miles. When researching the National Geographic Atlas map of Antarctica, Grand Duke Travis was inspired by the fact that the Whitmore Mountains were located in the unclaimed section of Marie Byrd Land and they shared the name of his childhood best friend, Neil Whitmoyer. Were it not for this immediate confirmation, it is entirely possible the Grand Duke might not have decided to move forward with his plan to claim Westarctica.

Photo credit: U.S. Antarctic Program

(More Images)