Eights Coast

Eights Coast is that portion of the coast of West Antarctica between Cape Waite and Phrogner Point. It is part of Ellsworth Land and stretches between 103°24'W and 89°35'W. This coast is bordered by Thurston Island, Abbot Ice Shelf and some islands within the ice shelf. It was sighted by members of the US Antarctic Service (USAS) in flights from the ship from surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1960-66. Most of Eights Coast is not claimed by any nation, like Marie Byrd Land, the large region west of it. Only in the east, Eights Coast touches the sector claimed by Chile as part of its southermost province. Peter I Island, 450 km north of the coast, is claimed by Norway as a dependency.

Eights Coast was named by US-SCAN for James Eights of Albany, NY, geologist on the "Annawan" in 1830, who carried on geologic investigations in the South Shetland Islands, and who cruised westward on the "Annawan", in company with the "Penguin", to 103° W. Eights, the earliest American scientist in the Antarctic, discovered the first known fossils in the Antarctic region, a tree section, in the South Shetland Islands. As a result of these investigations Eights, in 1833, published in the Transactions of the Albany Institute (Vol. 2) what proved to be remarkably accurate observations and conclusions on the natural phenomena of the region.