COMPOSITE GAZETTEER OF ANTARCTICA

Small harbor at the W side of Venus Bay, lying immediately W of Pyrites Island and S of Gam Point, on the N coast of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands. The harbor was known to both American and British sealers as early as 1821. The sealing vessel Esther (Captain Low) of Boston worked in this area in the 1820-21 season.

S of Gam Point and W of Pyrites Island, Venus Bay (q.v.), King George Island, was the landing place of William Smith when he took formal possession of King George Island for King George III, 16 October 1819 (Smith, 1821); roughly charted by the early sealers and named after the sealing ship Esther (Capt. E. Low, Low Island, q.v.) of Boston, which worked in this area, 1820-21 (New York Gazette and General Advertiser, 4 June 1821) (Sherratt, 1821, map facing cols. 1 215-16; BA chart 1238, 7.ix.1839; Ferguson, 1921, p.41; [incorrectly shown on W side of Brimstone Peak] Hill and others, chart, 1937b; BA chart 3205, 2.ix.1938; [incorrectly described as lying SW of Ridley Island] BA, 1948, p.150; [correctly indicated] APC, 1960, p.4; DOS 610 sheet W 62 56, 1968); the site of first wintering in the Antarctic by the Chief Officer and ten of the crew of Lord Melville (Capt. John Clark) in 1821. Esther's Harbour (Fildes, 1821c). Ester's [sic] Harbour (Powell, chart, 1822a). Havre Ester's (Powell, 1824a, map facing p.5). Esthers Hafen (Fildes, 1827, p.466). Havre Esther (Vincendon-Dumoulin, atlas, 1847, Pl.43). Puerto Esther (Spain. DH chart 458, 1861). Ester Haben [sic] (Friederichsen, 1895, Tafel 7 facing p.304). Porto Ester (Faustini, 1904, p.4). Esther Bay (Irízar, 1904, p.581). Bahía Esther (Irízar, [1907], p. 65). Hr Ester (Riso Patron S., 1908, end map). Havre Ester (Charcot, 1912, Pl.1). Esther H. (HA chart, 1928). Ester Harbour (Wilkins, 1929, map facing p.374). The cove was further charted by DI in 1937 but wrongly identified as lying SW of Brimstone Peak (Deacon, 1939, p.203). Esther Harbor (USAAF chart [LR-74], 1942; USBGN, 1960, p.3). Puerto Ester (Argentina. IGM map, 1946). Bahía Ester (Chile. DNH chart L, 1947). Port Esther (France. SHM, 1954, p.45). The harbour was photographed from the air by FIDASE in 1956 and surveyed from the ground by FIDS in 1958.

El nombre Esther se debe probablemente al foquero "Esther de Boston" al mando del capitán del "Low" que estuvo trabajando en este lugar durante el verano 1820-1821. Puerto situado a 3 millas al SW de cabo Promontorio Norte, costa N de la isla Rey Jorge, al abrigo de una punta saliente y de un cerro está situado puerto Esther, que fue muy frecuentado por las embarcaciones loberas de principios del siglo XIV, este puerto es sucio, desabrigado y de escaso fondo.