Cape Wilson is a bold, rocky, snow-covered cape

Cape

Cape can be used to describe any sleeveless outer garment, such as a poncho, but usually it is a long garment that covers only the back half of the wearer, fastening around the neck. They were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon, and have had periodic...

, forming the south-east end of the Nash Range

Nash Range

Nash Range is a mainly ice-covered coastal range, 40 nautical miles long, bordering the west side of the Ross Ice Shelf between Dickey and Nimrod Glaciers...

 and marking the northern entrance point to Shackleton Inlet

Shackleton Inlet

The Shackleton Inlet is a reentrant, about 16 km wide, between Cape Wilson and Cape Lyttelton. It is occupied by the terminus of the Nimrod Glacier descending at a low gradient from the bordering highlands to the Ross Ice Shelf....

 on the western edge of the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

. It was discovered by Captain Robert F. Scott, Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, in December 1902, on his attempted trip to the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

. He was accompanied on this trip by Lieutenant (later Sir) Ernest H. Shackleton, Royal Naval Reserve

Royal Naval Reserve

The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

, and Dr. Edward A. Wilson, for whom the cape was named.