Fortuna Glacier

Fortuna Glacier is a tidewater glacier at the mouth of Cumberland Bay on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic, flowing northeast toward its terminus near Cape Best, with a distributary that nearly reaches Fortuna Bay on the island's north coast. It was named around 1912, most likely after the whale catcher Fortuna. The glacier is historically significant on two occasions: in 1916 the explorer Ernest Shackleton crossed it during his overland rescue journey after his ship Endurance was crushed in Antarctic ice, and in 1982 British forces used it as a landing zone during Operation Paraquet to retake South Georgia from Argentine occupation, an operation that included difficult helicopter rescues in severe weather.