<P> 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 the ice shelf or the continent within days or months of each other: 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 the expedition, led by von Bellingshausen and Lazarev on the ships Vostok and Mirny, reached a point within 32 km (20 mi) from Princess Martha Coast and recorded the sight of an ice shelf at 69 ° 21 ′ 28" S 2 ° 14 ′ 50" W ﻿ / ﻿ 69.35778 ° S 2.24722 ° W ﻿ / - 69.35778; - 2.24722 that became known as the Fimbul ice shelf . 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 . Von Bellingshausen's expedition also discovered Peter I Island and Alexander I Island, the first islands to be discovered south of the circle . </P> <P> In December 1839, as part of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838--42 conducted by the United States Navy (sometimes called "the Wilkes Expedition"), an expedition sailed from Sydney, Australia, on the sloops - of - war USS Vincennes and USS Peacock, the brig USS Porpoise, the full - rigged ship Relief, and two schooners Sea Gull and USS Flying Fish . They sailed into the Antarctic Ocean, as it was then known, and reported the discovery "of an Antarctic continent west of the Balleny Islands" on 25 January 1840 . That part of Antarctica was later named "Wilkes Land", a name it maintains to this day . </P> <P> Explorer James Clark Ross passed through what is now known as the Ross Sea and discovered Ross Island (both of which were named for him) in 1841 . He sailed along a huge wall of ice that was later named the Ross Ice Shelf . Mount Erebus and Mount Terror are named after two ships from his expedition: HMS Erebus and Terror . </P> <P> The Imperial Trans - Antarctic Expedition of 1914, led by Ernest Shackleton, set out to cross the continent via the pole, but their ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by pack ice before they even landed . The expedition members survived after an epic journey on sledges over pack ice to Elephant Island . Then Shackleton and five others crossed the Southern Ocean, in an open boat called James Caird, and then trekked over South Georgia to raise the alarm at the whaling station Grytviken . </P>

Where is the southern ocean located on the map