BIO: "Belated Honour For Antarctic Explorer," was the headline of the August 7, 2000 issue of the English "Guardian" newspaper. Edward BRANSFIELD, the long-forgotten British explorer who discovered Antarctica, was to be honored after nearly two centuries with a stamp commemorating his exploits. I had recalled reading In the 1999 #2 issue of "Irish Roots" magazine, Sheila Bransfield, of Orchard Cottage, Acol, Kent CT7 0JA, had issued a plea for information on her "famous explorer" ancestor whom she had heard of since a little girl. When the British Antarctic Survey launched their new Antarctic supply ship "RRS Bransfield" in 1970, her interest was stirred. She said that she was searching for any likeness of Edward and any letters or documents that existed. Edward had been born in Ireland during the British occupation and was press-ganged into the British Navy off Cork in June 1803, at the recommencement of the Napoleonic wars. Apparently, although Edward served for 18 years in the British Navy, very little is known about his life after the Royal Navy (then age around 36). He died in 1852 at 67, and is buried in Brighton. Sheila had discovered his badly neglected grave in 1997 and resolved to rectify the situation. She gratefully received donations from the ! UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and Trinity House and private donations and attracted the attention and help of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, as Patron of the Society for Nautical Research. With personal funds Sheila embarked on a pilgrimage to "follow in Edward's footsteps." Her dream had been to land at George's Bay on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands and to raise the Union Flag in recognition of Edward's first landing there on 23 January 1820. She even took with her a metal detector, to search for a bottle containing coins of the realm buried by Edward near to the point where he placed the flag. Sheila left England on 24 January 1999 and eventually saw the South Shetlands on 29 January after flying 8,521 miles, spending 24 hours each in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, and sailing 600 miles across the Drake Passage. She could just see King George Island and Penguin Island (in George's Bay) through a mist but they encountered a storm of a force of 9-10 and were unable to land. It was Sheila's hope to organize a "Bransfield Memorial Voyage" in January 2000 and to publish a biography. Per article in the English newspaper, The Royal Navy officer made the first recorded sighting of the frozen continent, but his memory had been eclipsed by the romantic legends of the later explorers Robert Falcon SCOTT and Ernest SHACKLETON. The stamp, to be issued in December, 2000, was to bear the image of a British Antarctic survey ship named after Bransfield (and would be accompanied by one honoring Shackleton), as a photograph or drawing of Bransfield had been sought, but none could be found. The stamp marked the culmination of a campaign to restore Bransfield's rightful place in history. At the forefront of this campaign, which included the restoration of his neglected grave in Brighton, was the officer's great-great-great-great-niece, Sheila Bransfield. Born in Ireland circa 1785, Edward BRANSFIELD was master or navigator aboard HMS "Andromache," based at Valparaiso, Chile, when a whaling ship arrived with news of land much further south than shown on existing maps. Bransfield commandeered a whaling brig, the "Williams" and charted the South Shetland Islands, which lie near the Antarctic peninsula. He then landed on King George Island to take formal possession and coasted to Deception Island. Turning southward in January 1820, he made the historic sighting of "high mountains, covered with snow," thought to be mounts Bransfield and Jacquinot on the Antarctic mainland. On his return, however, Bransfield found the Admiralty had scant interest in his discovery. Ms. Bransfield said, "The emphasis was on finding the northwest passage. It seems as if they had absolutely no interest in the Antarctic." The navigator's name lives on however, with a Mount Bransfield, Bransfield Island and Bransfield Strait in the Antarctic. An! extensive article covering Bransfield's early military history can be found in the 1999 #2 issue of "Irish Roots" magazine published in Cork, Ireland, and on the web.