Graham Land map

The British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) of 1934-1937 was developed on a modest scale. John Rymill proposed to explore and accurately survey South Graham Land: the Antarctic Peninsula. It was intended to explore the area which Hubert Wilkins had flown over in 1928. Rymill was joined on this expedition by a number of his companions from earlier expeditions in Greenland.

He would use his ship Penola, two small motor boats, a Fox Moth aircraft and dog teams to conduct sea, land and aerial surveys. He and the other men from the Greenland expeditions were experienced dog handlers and familiar with reading ice conditions. With the aircraft they could scout the conditions ahead and it could also ferry supplies. The small boats could explore the coast and take soundings.

From their first base in the Argentine Islands they planned to sledge down the west coast of the peninsula to examine Wilkins's islands and channels. Their survey work was rigorously methodical: every 48 to 80 kilometres astronomical fixes were made and the intermediate detail was completed with plane-table and compass traverses and the distances measured by sledge-wheel. Scientific work continued at the main base while the field surveys were undertaken: this included zoology, geology, ornithology and meteorology - fossil plants and shells were discovered. The base was then moved further south.

Their aerial surveys revealed great differences from Hubert Wilkins's observations of 1928-1929 and also revealed that there was no possibility of cutting through to the east side of the peninsula to the Weddell Sea. Sledge teams headed out and revealed that the Casey and Lurabee Channels, discovered and named by Wilkins, did not exist. They continued down the strait until the land at the end veered to the west joining seamlessly with the main continent: the strait was named King George VI Sound. Wilkins's Stefansson Strait was also disproved.

Meanwhile Rymill and Bingham made a traverse of the peninsula and its central ridge of mountains to over 9,000 feet (approximately 2,700 metres). They eventually turned back in the direction of the base and investigated the eastern end of the supposed Casey Channel. There was a rift and a glacier, but no channel.

The BGLE ended with several flights which joined up their northern and southern surveys to everyone's satisfaction. Concentrating on a relatively small area and using the combined resources of dog teams, small boats and aircraft, the expedition achieved outstanding results. Its survey work proved that Wilkins's channels did not exist, and that Graham Land was a peninsula connected to the main Antarctic continent.

The map is reproduced courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

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