John Balleny was the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 captain of a whaling schooner, the Eliza Scott, who led an exploration cruise for the English whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons

Samuel Enderby & Sons

Samuel Enderby & Sons was a whaling and sealing company based in London, England, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby . The company encouraged their captains to combine exploration with their business activities, and sponsored several of the earliest expeditions to the subantarctic, Southern Ocean...

 to the Antarctic in 1838-1839.

During this expedition, Balleny, sailing in company with Thomas Freeman and the Sabrina, sailed into the Southern Ocean

Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...

 along a corridor of longitude centering on the line of 175°E., south of New Zealand. The Balleny squadron logged a partial break in the pack ice surrounding the southern continent, discovered the Balleny Islands

Balleny Islands

The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and are of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes...

 in February 1839, and caught a brief sight of Antarctica itself at 64°58'S., 121°08'E. This patch of icy land is today called the Sabrina Coast

Sabrina Coast

Sabrina Coast is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land, Antarctica, lying between Cape Waldron, at 115° 33' E, and Cape Southard, at 122° 05' E. John Balleny has long been credited with having seen land in March 1839 at about 117° E. The United States Exploring Expedition under Lt...

.

The Balleny corridor through the Southern Ocean would be used by future explorers such as Robert Scott

Robert Falcon Scott

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...

, Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

, Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....

, and Richard Byrd

Richard Byrd

Richard Byrd is the name of:*Richard C. Byrd , American politician*Richard Evelyn Byrd , admiral, polar explorer, aviator*Richard Byrd , American Olympic athlete...

, and is used today by surface vessels resupplying McMurdo

McMurdo

McMurdo may refer to:*Archibald McMurdo , British naval officer**McMurdo Station, a station at the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica***The South Pole Traverse, also known as the McMurdo – South Pole highway...

 and other scientific bases located in and around the Ross Sea

Ross Sea

The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land.-Description:The Ross Sea was discovered by James Ross in 1841. In the west of the Ross Sea is Ross Island with the Mt. Erebus volcano, in the east Roosevelt Island. The southern part is covered...

sector of Antarctica.

External links

• summary of Balleny's role