Peter Kemp

Peter Kemp († April 21, 1834 at sea between the Kerguelen and South Africa ) was a British seal hunter and explorer. The Kempland on the east coast of the Antarctic continent is named after him.

Discovery of the Kempland

Kemp was in the service of the London whale and seal company Daniel Bennett & Sons and carried out regular trips to Antarctic waters for them. In 1833 he was given command of the 147-tonne Schnau Magnet . In July he set sail with a crew of 17 towards the Kerguelen . There he had the supplies replenished and continued the voyage on November 26, heading for the Antarctic east coast. The ship was making rapid progress, and the very next day he was recording 180 nautical miles south of the Kerguelen Land in the logbook . Possibly this was the island of Heard , which was otherwise only discovered in 1853 , although this seems unlikely due to the ship's position noted by Kemp on that day - over 120 miles from Heard. Kemp continued on the south course and hit the first pack ice on December 14th . On December 26th, he sighted the coast of the Kempland , but could not go any further because of the thick ice. Three days later he gave the order to return to Kerguelen, where the crew hunted elephant seals in the months that followed. On March 23, the Magnet set sail for South Africa. On the crossing, Kemp was washed overboard on April 21 and drowned.

literature

• William J. Mills: Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2003, p. 342, ISBN 978-1-57607-422-0 (English)
• John Stewart: Antarctica - An Encyclopedia . Vol. 2, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, p. 844, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6 (English)