Talk:Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

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[edit] B or B?

Two articles, one on Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and one on Edward Bransfield, both claim the discovery of Antarctica for their protagonists. The two claims are apparently separated by only two days of real time, but even so, there ought to be some resolution of this question.

A selection of reference works say "almost certainly" Bellingshausen, but the quality of each report is not such that experts are willing to stake their careers on them (the ones not being leaned on by governments, that is :-) - Soviets used Bellingshausen's priority to make territorial claims). As usual, we just need to report the claims, not try to decide it ourselves. It would be useful to cross-link the two articles better, since both hint at a priority dispute, but aren't especially clear about it. Stan 14:36, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

I am concerned that this article violates the NPOV criterion. While Bellingshausen did discover substantial parts of Antarctica, and may have been the first to sight the continent, this article does not make it plain that the priority is disputed and that Bransfield was sent as a result of the discovery of the South Shetland Islands (usually regarded as part of Antarctica) by Smith in February 1819. There is also the partisan statement (which I have corrected) that Bellingshausen discovered the South Shetland Islands, which he most certainly did not, although he visited them.

Incidentally, everyone forgets that Cook, although he did not sight the continent, confidently stated that it existed on the perfectly correct reasoning that the vast icebergs of the southern oceans must originate on a continent. --APRCooper 20:05, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] South Shetland Islands

The article states that Bellingshausen "discovered" the South Shetland Islands. This is certainly not so, as they were sighted by Capt. William Smith of the brig Williams in February 1819, before Bellingshausen left Portsmouth! The reference for this is the US and Chilean entries in the Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica ([1]). They were visited by sealers in 1820. --APRCooper 19:58, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Another source

Weddell (interested in southward distance) mentions that Bellinghausen said "We continued our cruise to the south-east, sailing between large masses of ice; but, notwithstanding all our efforts, we never could pass the 70° of south latitude, and this only in one place. In all others, we could only advance 69½°." — Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, No. 23, p. 177. I don't know what else might be in Edinburgh Philosophical. (SEWilco 07:33, 28 February 2007 (UTC))