Vahsel Bay facts for kids
Vahsel Bay is a large bay in Antarctica. It is about 7 miles (11 kilometers) wide. You can find it on the western side of the Luitpold Coast. Two big ice rivers, the Schweitzer Glacier and Lerchenfeld Glacier, flow into this bay.
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Discovering Vahsel Bay
Vahsel Bay was first found by a German team exploring Antarctica. This was during the German Antarctic Expedition of 1911–1912. The leader of this trip was Wilhelm Filchner. He named the bay after Captain Richard Vahsel. Captain Vahsel was the captain of their ship, the Deutschland, and he sadly passed away during the expedition.
Later, a lot of ice around the bay broke off, making it much bigger. Filchner then tried to rename it Herzog Ernst Bucht. But other explorers kept using the name Vahsel Bay, and that's what it's still called today.
Shackleton's Amazing Journey
Vahsel Bay was supposed to be the goal for another famous explorer, Ernest Shackleton. He led the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Shackleton and his crew sailed deep into the Weddell Sea. They got very close to Vahsel Bay, close enough to see its entrance!
However, their ship got stuck in thick ice. They were only about 68 miles (109 kilometers) away from the bay. This moment marked the start of one of the most incredible survival stories in the history of exploration.
Explorer's Diary: A Difficult Journey
We can learn about the German Antarctic Expedition from the diary of its leader, Wilhelm Filchner. Here are some parts from his entries between March 2 and March 7, 1912:
- March 2: Captain Vahsel thought the ship was in danger. He wanted to get it to open water as soon as possible.
- March 4: With heavy hearts, we started to sail back. We found open water, but sometimes it had thin new ice. We sailed along the coast of the new land we had found.
- March 5: New ice kept blocking our way. So, we changed our direction more to the north.
- March 6: Even though the ship used its full engine power and all its sails, we only moved about three miles.
- March 7: We tried to break the ice with dynamite, but it didn't help much. That night, the ice started to press against the ship for the first time. The struggle continued.
See also
In Spanish: Bahía de Vahsel para niños
