Butter Point is located in
McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole.
Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo of ...
in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...
. This area at the mouth of the
Ferrar Glacier is straight across the sound from
cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, Antarctica, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.
History
The cape was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, w ...
. Discovered by the
British National Antarctic Expedition 1901–1904, and named because the Ferrar Glacier Party left a tin of butter there in October 1903 in anticipation of obtaining seal meat at this point on their return journey.
It was considered as the site of
New Zealand's Scott Base
Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN, leader of two British expedit ...
because it offered the best approach by sea and access to the
inland plateau. It was not used, with
Pram Point chosen instead.
References
Headlands of Victoria Land
Scott Coast
{{ScottCoast-geo-stub