Page "History of Antarctica" Paragraph 27

The first confirmed sighting of mainland Antarctica cannot be accurately attributed to one single person.

It can, however, be narrowed down to three individuals.

According to various sources, three men all sighted Antarctica within days or months of each other: Fabian von Bellingshausen, a captain in the Russian Imperial Navy ; Edward Bransfield, a captain in the British navy ; and Nathaniel Palmer, an American sealer out of Stonington, Connecticut.

It is certain that on 28 January 1820 ( New Style ), the expedition led by Fabian von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev on two ships reached a point within 20 miles ( 40 km ) of the Antarctic mainland and saw ice-fields there.

On 30 January 1820, Bransfield sighted Trinity Peninsula, the northernmost point of the Antarctic mainland, while Palmer sighted the mainland in the area south of Trinity Peninsula in November 1820.

Bellingshausen's expedition also discovered Peter I Island and Alexander I Island, the first islands to be discovered south of the circle.