The Fletcher Islands are a small group of island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s lying 6 miles (9.7 km) west-southwest (WSW) of Cape Gray

Cape Gray

Cape Gray is a rocky cape which forms the east side of the entrance to Commonwealth Bay, part of the George V Coast of Antarctica. The cape is actually a small rocky island which is joined to the icecap of the mainland by an ice ramp...

 in the eastern part of Commonwealth Bay

Commonwealth Bay

Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the main base of the expedition at Cape Denison at the head of the bay...

. The Fletcher Islands are located at 66°53′S 143°05′E. The Fletcher Islands were discovered by the Australian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) (1911-1914) under Douglas Mawson

Douglas Mawson

Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...

, who gave the name Fletcher to Fletcher Island

Fletcher Island

Fletcher Island is a rocky island, in diameter, which is the largest of the Fletcher Islands. Fletcher Island is located at . Fletcher Island lies in the eastern part of Commonwealth Bay, west-southwest of Cape Gray. Fletcher Island was discovered by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under...

, the large island of the group. The United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) recommends that the name Fletcher also be applied for the group in keeping with the interpretation shown on G.D. Blodgett's 1955 map compiled from air photos taken by U.S. Navy (USN) Operation Highjump

Operation Highjump

Operation Highjump , officially titled The United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, 1946-1947, was a United States Navy operation organized by RADM Richard E. Byrd Jr. USN, , Officer in Charge, Task Force 68, and led by RADM Richard H. Cruzen, USN, Commanding Officer, Task Force 68....

 (1946-1947).

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• Fletcher Island
  Fletcher Island
  Fletcher Island is a rocky island, in diameter, which is the largest of the Fletcher Islands. Fletcher Island is located at . Fletcher Island lies in the eastern part of Commonwealth Bay, west-southwest of Cape Gray. Fletcher Island was discovered by the Australian Antarctic Expedition under...
  
  
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands south of 60° S
• SCAR
  Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
  The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is an interdisciplinary body of the International Council for Science . It was established in February 1958 to continue the international coordination of Antarctic scientific activities that had begun during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58...
  
  
• Territorial claims in Antarctica