Royal Company's Islands

The Royal Company's Islands are a group of phantom islands reported by some early explorers to lie southwest of Tasmania. They were first heard of before 1840, but the original report cannot be traced. Many old charts show them at 50°20′S 140°0′E or 52°20′S 143°0′E.

1909 search for Royal Company and other phantom islands
1912 German map showing Royal Company Islands southwest of Tasmania

The islands' existence was disproved as early as 1840 by the United States Exploring Expedition.[1] From 1889 to 1902 several vessels passed through the islands' vicinity without noting any landforms, and in 1904 the UK Hydrographic Office finally decided to remove them from all Admiralty charts.[2][3]

In October 1894 the 'Antarctic' (H. Bull's exploratory whaling expedition sponsored by Svend Foyn) steered for the Royal Company's Islands "supposed to be situated in about lat. 51 degrees S,. and long. 142 E.[4]" They searched for a couple of days, but met with gales. Not finding any islands, they headed for Macquarie Island. Further searches by the Nimrod in 1909 and the Aurora in 1912 turned up nothing.[5][6]

See also

References and sources
References
  1. "The Antarctic Continent". Hobart Courier. Jan 12, 1841. p. 3. Retrieved May 6, 2009. They sailed over the supposed place of the Royal Company's Islands, disproving their existence.
  2. Wharton, W. J. L. (July 1904). "Expunged Islands" (PDF). The Emu. 4: 32. doi:10.1071/MU904032a.
  3. "The Phantom Isles of the Pacific". New York Times. May 15, 1904. p. 11. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  4. Riffenburgh, Beau; Kløver, Geir O. Carsten Borchgrevinck and the Southern Cross, 1898-1900 (1st ed.). Oslo: The Fram Museum. p. 152. ISBN 978-82-8235-088-4.
  5. Davis, J.K. (Dec 1910). "Voyage of the S. Y. "Nimrod.": Sydney to Monte Video Viâ Macquarie Island, May 8-July 7, 1909". The Geographical Journal. Blackwell Publishing. 36 (6): 696–703. doi:10.2307/1776845. JSTOR 1776845.
  6. Mawson, Douglas (n.d.). "Chapter 18: The Ship's Story". The Home of the Blizzard, being the story of the Australasian Antarctic expedition, 1911-1914. London: Ballantyne Press. Royal Company Islands not found in the position indicated on the chart
Sources
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