French Passage () is a passage through the

Wilhelm Archipelago The Wilhelm Archipelago is an island archipelago off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in Antarctica. Wilhelm Archipelago consists of numerous islands, the largest of which are Booth Island and Hovgaard Island (Antarctica), Hovgaard Is ...

, extending in a northwest–southeast direction between

Petermann Island Petermann Island () is an island long, lying southwest of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location Petermann Island is off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is in the Wilhelm Archipelago, southwest of ...

, the

Stray Islands The Vedel Islands () are a group of small islands lying west of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location The Vedel Islands are off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. They are in the Wilhelm Archipelago, so ...

, the

Vedel Islands The Vedel Islands () are a group of small islands lying west of Hovgaard Island in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica. Location The Vedel Islands are off the Graham Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. They are in the Wilhelm Archipelago, so ...

and the

Myriad Islands Myriad Islands () is a scattered group of small islands and rocks extending for about 5 nautical miles (9 km), lying west of the Dannebrog and Vedel Islands in the Wilhelm Archipelago. Charted by the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) und ...

to the north and the

Argentine Islands The Argentine Islands are a group of islands in the Wilhelm Archipelago of Antarctica, situated southwest of Petermann Island, and northwest of Cape Tuxen on Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land. They were discovered by the French Antarctic Exped ...

, the Anagram Islands, the

Roca Islands Roca Islands () is a group of small islands between Cruls Islands and Anagram Islands on the south side of French Passage in the Wilhelm Archipelago. Discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, 1903–05, and named by Charcot for Julio A. R ...

, and the

Cruls Islands The Cruls Islands or Crulls Islands are a group of small islands lying west of the Roca Islands in the southern part of the Wilhelm Archipelago. They were discovered by the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, 1897–99, and named by Gerlache for Lu� ...

to the south. It was so named by the British Graham Land Expedition, 1934–37, because the passage was navigated for the first time in 1909 by the Pourquoi-Pas?, the ship of the

French Antarctic Expedition The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica. 1837–1840 In 1837, during an 1837–1840 expedition across the deep southern hemisphere, Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville sailed his ship ''Astrolabe'' alo ...

under

Jean-Baptiste Charcot Jean-Baptiste Étienne Auguste Charcot, better known in France as Commandant Charcot, (15 July 1867 in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris – 16 September 1936 at sea (30 miles north-west of Reykjavik, Iceland), was a French scientist, medical doctor ...

Bradley Rock Bradley Rock is an isolated rock which lies about northwest of the entrance to French Passage in the Wilhelm Archipelago. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (1973) for Lieutenant Commander Edgar M. Bradley, Royal Navy ...

is an isolated rock which lies about 9 nautical miles (17 km) northwest of the entrance to French Passage.

References

Straits of the Wilhelm Archipelago {{WilhelmArchipelago-geo-stub