Sabrina Coast is that portion of the coast of Wilkes Land

Wilkes Land

Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica, formally claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory, though the validity of this claim has been placed for the period of the operation of the Antarctic Treaty, to which Australia is a signatory...

, Antarctica, lying between Cape Waldron

Cape Waldron

Cape Waldron is an ice-covered cape in Antarctica, just westward of Totten Glacier. It was delineated by G.D. Blodgett from aerial photographs taken by USN Operation Highjump , and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for R.R. Waldron, purser on the sloop USS Vincennes of the...

, at 115° 33' E, and Cape Southard

Cape Southard

Cape Southard is an ice-covered cape separating the Banzare and Sabrina Coasts of Wilkes Land. Delineated from air photos taken by U.S. Navy Operation Highjump, 1946–47, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Samuel Lewis Southard, Secretary of the Navy under President John...

, at 122° 05' E. John Balleny

John Balleny

John Balleny was the English captain of a whaling schooner, the Eliza Scott, who led an exploration cruise for the English whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons to the Antarctic in 1838-1839....

 has long been credited with having seen land in March 1839 at about 117° E. The United States Exploring Expedition

United States Exploring Expedition

The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones. The voyage was authorized by Congress in...

 under Lt. Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

 approached this coast in February 1840 and indicated its general configuration as shown in part by "Totten High Land" on his 1840 chart. In 1931 the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson

Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...

saw what appeared to be land in this longitude about one degree farther south than that reported by Balleny and Wilkes. In recognition of Balleny's effort, Mawson retained the name of the cutter Sabrina, one of Balleny's ships which was lost in a storm at 95°E in the latter part of March 1839.