                     

              

An Archipelago of
Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms
and Fakes



‘One of the best new travel books’
Guardian
 f i r s t p u b l i s h e d i n 2 0 1 6 b y p o ly g o n ,
a n i m p r i n t o f b i r l i n n lt d

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ISLANDS
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Copyright © Malachy Tallack, 2016

An Archipelago of
Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes
The right of Malachy Tallack to be identified as the author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic,
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 contents s u n k e n i s l a n d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Atlantis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
The Island of Buss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii Sarah Ann Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Lemuria or Kumari Kandam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158
i s l a n d s o f l i f e & d e at h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Isles of the Blessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
f r a u d u l e n t i s l a n d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Kibu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Isle Phelipeaux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Hawaiki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Javasu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Hufaidh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Onaseuse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Crocker Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
s e t t i n g o u t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Thule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
r e c e n t u n - d i s c ov e r i e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Fusang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Los Jardines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
St Brendan’s Island. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Island of Seven Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Terra nova Islands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Bermeja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

t h e a g e o f e x p l o r at i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Sandy Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Hy Brasil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Frisland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Other Un-Discovered Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Davis Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
The Auroras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
 Crocker Land

Thule

Frisland
The Island of Buss

Hy Brasil
Fusang Isle Phelipeaux
St Brendan’s

The Island of Seven Cities Atlantis

Hufaidh
The Isles of the Blessed
Bermeja
Los Jardines

Lemuria Onaseuse

Hawaiki
Kibu
Javasu

Sandy Island
Davis Land

The Auroras

Terra Nova Islands

Some of these islands never appeared on maps, while others moved location, sometimes
more than once. Their positions here should be considered only approximate.
 introduction the un-discovered islands

I
remember well the motto of was supposed to inspire young Shetlanders. It
the Anderson High School was part of the history of our school and the
in Lerwick, displayed on the brightly history of our islands. The implication was
coloured crest that was fixed to the gates that, if heeded, these words could help shape our
outside. ‘Dö weel and persevere’, it counselled. futures too. Hard work and perseverance: those
At some point we pupils must have been told the were the lessons that would lead us forward.
origin of these words, for they were intimately Accompanying that motto on the crest
tied to the place itself. ‘Dö weel and persevere’ were three Viking images – an axe, a longship
was the formative advice given in 1808 to the and a flaming brand – alongside another, more
young man Arthur Anderson, later to be the ambiguous inscription. On a yellow scroll across
industrialist Arthur Anderson, co-founder of the the centre of the emblem were three words in
p&o shipping company, member of parliament Latin that pointed to a rather different part of
for Orkney and Shetland, and benefactor of the our history. ‘Dispecta est Thule’ : Thule was seen.
school that still bears his name. Though I passed through those gates count­
It was not a particularly stirring piece of less times in my years at school, no teacher ever
advice. To me it sounded half-hearted, like the explained the Latin words they bore, and I
words of an inattentive father patting his son never bothered to ask. From somewhere, I had
absent-mindedly on the head. But the story of gathered a vague notion that Thule was supposed
Anderson’s rise from poverty to philanthropy to be the edge of the world, and that somehow

[ viii ] [ ix ]
 aced with the sky we
imagine gods; faced with
the ocean we imagine
islands. Absence is terrify­
ing, and so we fill the gaps in our know­

Islands of ledge with invented things. These bring

Life us comfort, but they conflict, too, with our

& Death desire for certainty and understanding.

And sometimes that desire gives us back the
absences we sought to fill. • For as long as
people have been making stories, they have
been inventing islands. In literature and in
legend, they are there from the very start.
For societies living at the sea’s edge, the
dream of other shores is the most natural
the un-discovered islands i s l a n d s o f l i f e & d e at h

[4] [5]
 the un-discovered islands i s l a n d s o f l i f e & d e at h

gives fresh life to all men’. This, then, was not a

place beyond death, but an alternative to it.
the isles of The ancient Greeks did not have one single
the blessed version of this story, however. It was an evolving
and multifarious idea. By the time of Plato, in the
fourth century bc, Elysium was most commonly
imagined as an island or archipelago in the western
he notion of a paradise on Earth has ocean. It was known as the White Isle, or the Isles
long been part of European mythical of the Blessed, and some considered it a place to
traditions, and in Homer’s Odyssey which all could aspire.
we find one of the oldest extant versions of the In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, Socrates outlines
story. There, Elysium, or the Elysian Plain, is his own belief, in terms that clearly anticipate the
Christian religion yet to be born. After death, he
the land to which those favoured by the gods are
says, body and soul become separated, but each
brought. According to Proteus, the Old man of the
retains the character it had when alive. The fat
Sea, people there ‘lead an easier life than anywhere
remain fat; the scarred remain scarred. At least for a
else in the world, for in Elysium there falls not
time. Equally, ‘when a man is stripped of the body,
rain, nor hail, nor snow, but Oceanus breathes ever
all the natural or acquired affections of the soul
with a west wind that sings softly from the sea, and
are laid open to view’. Unlike the body, however,
the soul must face judgement after death, a task
Previous spread: St Brendan holding mass on the back of a whale,
from Caspar Plautius, nova Typis Transacta navigatio, 1621. John undertaken by three sons of Zeus. Aeacus judged
Carter Brown Library. those from the west and Rhadamanthus those from

[6] [7]
 or travellers in the last cen-
turies bc and the first mil-
lennium ad, the boundaries
of geographical know­
ledge
were narrow. People understood that the
world was big and that their part of it
was small, but they knew little of what
Setting
lay beyond. The map was hardly more
Out
than a sketch, its edges crowded with spec-
ulation. Those who did make journeys to-
wards those edges would encounter things
they had never seen or even heard about
before. The ocean was a terrifying, won-
derful place, where legends and facts
would mingle, and where anything imag-
inable might be possible. • During these
centuries, extraordinary journeys were tak- are hard to separate from fiction. Legendary
ing place all over the world. In the Pacific, islands appeared on charts of the Atlantic
the Polynesians were navigating across thou- as late as the nineteenth century without
sands of miles, using skills their descendants any proof of their existence, yet stories of
still employ today. In the North Atlantic, Viking expeditions to ‘Vinland’ more than
the Norsemen were island-hopping, from one thousand years ago were widely con-

Shetland to Faroe to Iceland to Greenland, sidered to be false until archaeological evi-

and even to North America. They too de- dence of Norse settlement was uncovered
in L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, in
veloped a rare competence at sea, which
1960. • Some of the islands in this chapter
took them to places no European had ever
may likewise be real places, but it is impossi-
been before. • Everywhere, human beings
ble now to know. Their stories are so distant,
were crossing the oceans in search of new
and so infused with the imaginary, that they
land. Some of these journeys were record-
exist today only in name. With nowhere left
ed in writing, some in oral traditions, and
to go, they are true ex-isles.
others on maps. But myth and geography
are difficult to prise apart after so long. Facts
the un-discovered islands setting out

[ 38 ] [ 39 ]
 the un-discovered islands setting out

around 330 bc. He first reached the tin-producing

thule regions of south-west Britain and then went on-

wards, taking measurements of the sun’s height
along the way. When he reached the edge of the
mainland he did not turn back. Instead, the Greek
claimed to have continued, travelling six days
ritain is a long way from the Mediterra-
north to the ‘farthest of all lands’, Thule. This was
nean, and for the ancient Greeks it was
truly an astonishing journey.
a dark and potentially dangerous land,
Among early commentators, however, Pytheas’
at the edge of the human world. But in the fourth
voyage was not looked upon with unqualified
century bc, an explorer from the Greek colony of
ad­
miration. Some expressed considerable scep-
Massalia – today’s Marseille – claimed not just to
ticism about the authenticity of his reports, and
have reached Britain but to have gone beyond, to
in par­
ticular serious doubts were raised about
the previously unknown island of Thule.
the existence of Thule. In his Geography of 30 ad,
That explorer was Pytheas, and his book re-
Strabo, another Greek historian, was vora-
counting the journey, On the Ocean, though since
cious in his attacks. Repeatedly he questioned
lost, was widely read and remarked upon by oth-
Pytheas’ claims, and described his fellow Greek
er classical writers. From what has been pieced
as an ‘arch-falsifier’. Earlier still, in the second
together, it seems Pytheas set out on his travels
century bc, Polybius wrote that Pytheas ‘mis-
Previous spread: Map of Thule. The British Library. led many readers’ with his stories, and that ‘Even

[ 40 ] [ 41 ]
 the un-discovered islands setting out

year 563 by St Columba, but other monks went

st brendan’s further afield, to Orkney and Shetland and

beyond, becoming the first people to settle in Faroe
island and in Iceland, many years before the arrival
of the Vikings.
Not all of these wanderers travelled north,
he early Christian monks of Ireland though. Some, in fact, took no particular direc-
sought out remote places in which to tion at all, but instead launched themselves into the
contemplate the glory of God, where ocean and let God (or the wind and currents) do
prayers would be undisturbed and where faith the navigating. The lucky ones hit land eventual-
could be strengthened through solitude and ly. Many others must have perished.
silence. They wanted isolation, and they found it The best known of the travelling monks was
on the islands of western and northern Scotland, St Brendan, who lived from 484 to 577, and was

where they began to settle in the middle of the first responsible for founding, among other institu-
tions, the monastery at Clonfert in the west of
millennium ad.
Ireland. But it was not his work within the church
The monastery at Iona was founded in the
for which he is principally remembered, it was his
Previous spread: Part of Carte de la Barbarie de la Nıgritie et de La adventures overseas.
Guinee, 1707, by Guillaume Delisle. Library of Congress. Detail on
There are several versions of the Brendan story,
right, from west of the Canaries, showing St Brendan’s Island (as
Isle de St Borondon). each of them differing slightly from the others.

[ 60 ] [ 61 ]
 the un-discovered islands setting out

Those that have survived were largely written fire, which surely must have been volcanoes, as well
between the tenth and twelfth centuries, but were as a huge column ‘the colour of silver’ and ‘hard as
based on earlier texts. This was a tale that was marble’, consisting ‘of the clearest crystal’. It could
widely known across northern Europe in the High only have been an iceberg.
Middle Ages. After seven long years, the travellers finally
Depending on which version you read, the reached the place they had been seeking. It was, like
saint set off from Ireland in the year 512 with sixty the rest of their journey, extraordinary.
followers, or perhaps sixteen, or fourteen. He was When they had disembarked, they saw a land,
prompted to go by news of a glorious island – the extensive and thickly set with trees, laden with
Land of Promise of the Saints – described to him fruits, as in the autumn season. All the time
by a returning priest (or else an angel). On the they were traversing that land, during their
journey that ensued, the monks met other holy stay in it, no night was there, but a light always
men, as well as demons, and even the tormented shone, like the light of the sun in the meridian,
soul of Judas Iscariot. They were chased by a sea and for the forty days they viewed the land
serpent and a griffin; they encountered a dragon in various directions, they could not find the
and landed on the back of a whale, mistaking it limits thereof.
for an island. Elsewhere, they alighted on several This, clearly, was an Isle of the Blessed wrap­
new lands, including one known as the Paradise of ped up in Christian language. It was a paradise
Birds, and another that was home to sheep larger on earth, to which good people would ultimately
than oxen. The monks saw islands of smoke and find their way. According to a young man ‘of

[ 62 ] [ 63 ]
 the un-discovered islands t h e a g e o f e x p l o r at i o n

labelled ‘Insula de Brazil’, or some variant of that

hy brasil name. Many of these maps also showed one or two

other islands elsewhere in the Atlantic with the
same name, but this was merely an etymological
coincidence. While these other islands – and later
the South American country – were named after
a kind of wood used to create red dye, the more
he story of Hy Brasil demonstrates a
northerly Brazil had an entirely different origin. It
problem common to many of the places in
this book : namely, it is hard to establish was derived either from the Old Irish word bres,
facts about phantoms. Much has been written about meaning ‘beauty’ or ‘strength’, or else from some
the island over the centuries, and much of what has historical figure by the name of Breasal.
been written is certainly wrong. The tradition- As these derivations suggest, the island was
al story, repeated in countless books and articles, rooted in Celtic mythology. It was one of those
begins with cartography and then moves backward mystical lands, like Tír na nÓg or St Brendan’s
into folklore. It goes something like this. Isle, that echoed back to earlier beliefs in a paradise
From the early fourteenth century, maps on earth. Brazil – or Hy Brasil, as it was later
produced in Genoa and then elsewhere in Europe known – was a place rarely seen. It was hidden by
showed an island west of Ireland, circular in shape, thick fog, and only appeared to a chosen few, once
every seven years. Or so the story went.
Previous spread: Theatrvm orbis terrarvm by Abraham Ortelius, 1572.
Library of Congress. Brasil appears west of Ireland. But the line between myth and map took

[ 84 ] [ 85 ]
the un-discovered islands

[ 92 ] [ 93 ]
 the un-discovered islands t h e a g e o f e x p l o r at i o n

centuries before Columbus, he said, by the Welsh

prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd, and was there-
frisland
fore British territory. But not only that. In fact,
the whole of the North Atlantic region had been
conquered around 530 ad by none other than King
Arthur. Iceland, Greenland and even the North
he British empire boasted several Pole: Elizabeth was queen of them all. And what’s
non-existent is­ lands at one time or more, Dee concluded, King Arthur ‘did extend his
another. Indeed, some of its very first jurisdiction and sent Colonies thither’ to ‘Friseland’
acquisitions turned out not to be real. Frisland was and probably even ‘the famous Iland Estotiland’.
one, and a peculiar one at that. But no less peculiar The good doctor was not being wholly truth­
was the man who first claimed it for the crown. ful. He was relying on some rather suspect
Dr John Dee was a mathematician and occultist, sources, and adding some myths of his own. But
a spy and alchemist. He was also a strangely influ- what he didn’t realise – what he had no way
ential figure in the court of queen Elizabeth i. On of knowing – was these latter two colonies did
the back of a map he presented to the monarch in not actually exist. After all, they were not his
1580, Dee argued that it was not the Spanish crown inventions. They were there on the map. And
that had first claim to the New World, but Elizabeth they were there, too, on the maps of esteemed
herself. North America had been discovered three cartographers elsewhere in Europe. Neither Dee
Previous spread: Carta da navegar de nıcolo et Antonio Zeni furono in
nor Elizabeth had any reason to think they might
Tramontana lano, 1558. Princeton University Library. not be real.

[ 94 ] [ 95 ]
the un-discovered islands sunken islands

[ 146 ] [ 147 ]
 the un-discovered islands sunken islands

the western coast of South America: bird drop-

sarah ann pings. High in nitrogen and phosphates, guano,

as it is known, can be used to produce agricultur-
island al fertilisers, and in the mid-nineteenth century a
lucrative trade was developing, with Peru as the
main exporter. On arid islands, where birds had
ars have long been fought over precious previously been undisturbed by people, the guano
resources. Oil has been at the heart of could be found in extraordinary depths, up to 150
numerous recent conflicts, and water is feet. Before long, hundreds of thousands of tons
almost certain to fuel future ones. In the twenti- were being removed each year.
eth century, diamonds helped to stoke civil wars From early on, the United States was keen to
in Africa, and disputes over fishing grounds in cut in on the guano trade, but its first attempt was
the North Atlantic led to the three – fortunately clumsy and entirely unsuccessful. The country
bloodless – ‘cod wars’ between Britain and Ice- got itself involved in an angry confrontation in
land, from the 1950s to the 1970s. 1852, when it brazenly claimed rights to the Lobos
But a hundred years earlier it was a differ- islands off the Peruvian coast. The claim was base-

ent resource altogether that brought conflict to less, and the us was soon forced to apologise and
withdraw. (Twelve years later, Spain succeeded
Previous spread: A map of Oceania from Keith Johnston’s General
in occupying the Chincha Islands, sparking a war
Atlas, 1861. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. The detail
shows Sarah Ann Island (as Sarah Anne). with Peru, before it too had to withdraw. By that

[ 148 ] [ 149 ]
 the un-discovered islands sunken islands

time, guano accounted for about sixty per cent of equatorial Pacific Ocean – and among the earliest
Peru’s total income, and the Chincha Islands were of these was Sarah Ann Island (sometimes called
the most productive region of all. The country had Sarah Anne), registered in 1858 by the United States
no choice but to defend them.) Guano Company. It was supposed to lie about
Having failed to make inroads in South 4 degrees north and 154 degrees west.
America, the United States then decided to try its Like the scores of other islets and atolls in
luck elsewhere. In 1856, Congress passed a law the Pacific that never really existed, Sarah Ann
known as the Guano Act, which essentially gave should have faded quietly from the map. But
permission for a land grab. instead, a coincidence of geography briefly made it
Whenever any citizen of the United States famous. In the early 1930s, the United States Naval
discovers a deposit of guano on any island, Observatory was looking for a convenient place
rock, key, not within the lawful jurisdiction from which to watch the total solar eclipse that
of any other government, and not occupied was due in the summer of 1937. Searching their
by the citizens of any other government, and charts for the ideal location, right in the path of
takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the eclipse, they hit upon Sarah Ann. But when the
the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the astronomers went looking for it, Sarah Ann was
discretion of the President, be considered as nowhere to be found.
appertaining to the United States. Somehow, the idea that the island had sunk
More than a hundred islands were ultimately became widespread. Newspapers and maga-
claimed under this law – most of them in the zines at the time repeated this claim, sometimes

[ 150 ] [ 151 ]
 the un-discovered islands sunken islands

concocting apocalyptic stories to explain the than as a phantom. Yet quite why this explanation
event. In December 1933, the mılwaukee Journal came to be accepted is difficult to understand. After
published a lengthy article about the disappear- all, as early as 1859 – just one year after it was
ance, claiming the entire Pacific region was in a registered with the us government – articles
state of unprecedented upheaval. appeared in several publications declaring the
island to be ‘of doubtful existence’, and a search in
Coincident with the submerging of Sarah Ann
the 1870s turned up nothing. It seems certain that
island have come reports of immense activity
no one ever extracted guano from it.
all over the Pacific bottom, some islands
So the question of what actually happened to
slowly submerging and, in other instances,
Sarah Ann remains open. And looking back to the
submerged peaks slowly rising to the surface
first known mention of the island, the story seems
to become islands. Submarine explosions and
even murkier. That mention came in December
eruptions, tidal waves of various dimensions
1854, when the Alice Frazier, a whaling vessel,
and velocities and earthquakes in southern
was travelling south from Honolulu. The skipper
California, Central and South America and
on the voyage was Daniel Taber, whose wife and
new Zealand, have attended this activity in two daughters were also on board, and the eldest
the Pacific basin, while old volcanoes, long of his daughters, ten-year-old Asenath, was
quiescent, have again commenced eruption. keeping a journal. The crucial entry was made
And so the story of the island’s sinking on 10 December, and it amounts to only a few
stuck. Even today, at the time of writing, Sarah words: ‘We passed quite near the Sarah-Ann &
Ann is described on Wikipedia as ‘submerged’ rather Christmas Islands’.

[ 152 ] [ 153 ]
 the un-discovered islands sunken islands

Brief as it is, there are several things worth same longitude as Sarah Ann, but at 4 degrees
noticing about this entry. First, Asenath does not south rather than north of the equator. Perhaps,
make it clear if these islands were actually seen, like many such islands in the nineteenth century,
or if the ship merely ‘passed quite near’ where they Malden was known by more than one name. And
expected them to be. Second, at least one of the perhaps, banking on the possibility that they were
details must be incorrect. Christmas Island – now in fact two islands rather than one, the United
known as Kiritimati – is a real place, lying about States Guano Company claimed both of them. The
2 degrees n. and 157 degrees w. But Asenath also change of latitude may have been merely an error,
claims the ship had ‘crossed the line’ (i.e. the compounded by Sarah Ann’s failure to surface.
equator) two days earlier. So by this time they must
have been several degrees south of that position. A
log kept by crewman Benjamin F. Pierce confirms
this. He puts the ship at 3 degrees s. and 155 degrees
w. on 10 December, but makes no mention of Sarah
Ann or Christmas Island.
These contradictions do not provide a certain
answer, but they do hint at a possible solution. What
they suggest is a case of double identities, with
one standout contender. For there is another
island in this region – Malden – which lies at the

[ 154 ] [ 155 ]
the un-discovered islands sunken islands

[ 156 ] [ 157 ]
 the un-discovered islands sunken islands

Though he wrote most extensively on the birds

lemuria of South and Central America, Sclater’s interests

were wide-ranging and included the wildlife of
or
Madagascar, which he described as ‘one of the
kumari kandam most anomalous faunas existing on the world’s
surface’. The anomaly that particularly interested
him was the lemur, a primate endemic to the island
n the mid-nineteenth century, the Brit- but with relatives both on the African continent
ish zoologist Philip Sclater was faced and in India.
with a puzzle. A well-respected scien- The connection with Africa was easily ex­plain­
tist, who would go on to become secretary of the
ed – the island is only 250 miles offshore – but India
Zoological Society of London, as well as founding
was a more troubling question, for a whole ocean
editor of Ibis, the journal of the British Ornithol-
divides it from Madagascar. This was the puzzle
ogists’ Union, Sclater specialised in zoogeography.
facing Philip Sclater, when, in 1864, he wrote a
He studied the distribution of animals and
short essay for The Quarterly Journal of Science, in
birds around the world, and was the first to divide
which he suggested one possible explanation:
the planet into the biological regions which today
are called ecozones. that anterior to the existence of Africa in its
present shape, a large continent occupied parts
Previous spread: Hypothetical sketch of the monophylitic origin and of the
of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans stretching
diffusion of the 12 varieties of men from Lemuria over the earth, from
The History of Creation, Ernst Haeckel, 1876. out towards (what is now) America to the

[ 158 ] [ 159 ]
 the un-discovered islands fraudulent islands

The notice went on to explain that the crew

onaseuse of the Donna Carmelita ‘had friendly intercourse

with the King and natives’, who, it stated, ‘do not
seem to differ from the South Sea Islanders, already
known to navigators’.
As it happened, the Literary Gazette was out of
date. The discovery of Onaseuse, as it was called,
n page five of the Literary Gazette, pub­
had in fact been made two years previously, on 20
lished in London on 12 February 1825, a
July 1823. The journal’s brief outline of the sto-
brief notice gave details of a discovery in
ry also failed even to hint at the extraordinary
the South Pacific.
level of detail about the island and its inhabit-
Tucked between a paragraph on the use of Chi-
ants with which Captain Hunter had furnished
nese costumes in French theatre and the announce­
the world’s media.
ment of an invention that allowed people to breathe
Phantom islands are rarely explored, for obvi­
while in dense smoke, were the following words:
ous reasons. But this one was. And the information
new Island – Captain Hunter, of the merchant- recorded by captain and crew demonstrated beyond
vessel Donna Carmelita, is stated, in the new any doubt that Onaseuse was not a case of mistaken
South Wales’ Journals, to have discovered a identity. There were no other known islands in
new island in the Southern Ocean, in July last. this region (around 250km northwest of Fiji), and
The latitude is 15 degrees 31’S. and longitude certainly none that matched the descriptions given
176 degrees 11’E. by those onboard the Donna Carmelita.

[ 188 ] [ 189 ]
 the un-discovered islands fraudulent islands

was given access to diaries and records from the

crocker land expedition, and spent three years examining the

evidence. Herbert concluded that, though he may
have been close, Peary never made it to the Pole.
Whether or not the American knew he had
failed is impossible to say, but if he did lie it would
not have been the first time. He had form. On a
previous journey in the north, Peary claimed to
obert Peary did not always tell the have sighted land beyond Axel Heiberg Island, at
truth. That much is certain. For most of around 83 degrees north, which he called Crocker
the twentieth century he was believed to Land. It was a canny choice of name. George
be the first man to reach the North Pole, in April Crocker was one of Peary’s financial backers,
1909, with his companion Matthew Henson and from whom he wished to squeeze some cash to
four Inuit assistants. fund his next expedition. Flattery, he thought,
After a very public and very nasty campaign, would do the trick.
his rival Dr Frederick Cook’s claim to have got Crocker, though, did not pay up, and had it
there one year earlier was dismissed, and Peary took not been for Peary’s frantic race to the Pole with
the title. But doubts over his account continued Frederick Cook, that might have been the end
to niggle, and in the 1980s the British explorer of the matter. Crocker Land would have been
Wally Herbert was asked to settle the matter. He forgotten. But Peary had influential friends, and

[ 196 ] [ 197 ]
 n 1875, the British Royal Navy
decided it was time for a tidy
up. They knew their charts
of the Pacific were littered
with inaccuracies, and Captain Sir Frederick
Evans was tasked with putting them right. In
Recent total, Evans deleted 123 phantom islands from
Un- the Admiralty’s maps (though three of these
discoveries later turned out to be real). It was a signifi-
cant achievement, and a sign of just how many
errors had been lingering unnoticed. But it
was far from the end of the story. • If the
preceding centuries had been an age of great
geographical discoveries, the twentieth was
largely a time of un-discovery, when virtu-
ally all the remaining ex-isles were finally
expunged. Many of these, understandably, in the latter half of the twentieth century,
were in the Arctic and Antarctic. These were when satellites revolutionised our view of the
most difficult regions in which to travel, and world, one could finally check an island’s loca-
the last to be properly explored. They were tion without the inconvenience of actually

also the places where optical illusions such having to visit.  • Today the era of new island

as fata morgana were most liable to confuse discoveries is over, and the age of un-discov-

weary sailors, and where enormous icebergs ery is likewise coming to an end. But that
convenience is accompanied by loss. For
were sometimes hard to distinguish from tiny
millennia our oceans have been populated
islands. • For a long time there was good
by imagined islands, reflecting back at us
reason to leave uncertain islands, shoals and
something about our understanding of the
reefs on the map, even after doubts had been
world. But now these places are endangered
raised. Such things could be a real danger to
and headed for extinction. We are paying for
shipping, and it was better to be cautious than
our cartographic completeness with a feel-
to be sorry. But when navigational technol-
ing that something, somewhere, is missing.
ogy finally made it possible to determine a
location precisely, this began to change. And
the un-discovered islands recent un-discoveries

[ 206 ] [ 207 ]
 the un-discovered islands recent un-discoveries

they couldn’t be found in one place, they moved

los jardines to another; and when they still could not be seen,
they became smaller. For century after century,
mariners and cartographers gave them the benefit
of the doubt. So while other Pacific phantoms were
erased one by one, Los Jardines stood firm, the
tiny letters e.d. – existence doubtful – sometimes
os Jardines should not have survived appended to their name like a badge of honour. It
for as long as they did. As phantom was not until the Second World War that they
islands go, they are among the most began to disappear from charts, and not until 1973
inexplicably stubborn. In the four hundred years that the Internation­al Hydrographic Bureau finally
or more in which they remained on the map, the let go of them altogether. They had had a long
islands changed size, shifted their location by and restless life.
twelve degrees of latitude, and shrank from ten The islands were first mentioned by Álvaro de
to just two. They could never have been all that Saavedra, the cousin of Hernán Cortés, destroyer
they were supposed to be, and in the end they were of the Aztec Empire. Saavedra was employed by
nothing at all. Cortés to undertake an expedition from New Spain
But perhaps it was that very ability to transform to the Indonesian Maluku Islands in 1527. Despite
themselves that saved the islands for so long. When losing two of the three vessels that set out on
that voyage, Saavedra succeeded, and in doing so
Previous spread: From British Possessions and Colonies by William
Balfour Irvine, 1899. British Library. Los Jardines are shown at
became the first European sailor to cross the Pacific
around 20º north and 150º east. Ocean from east to west.

[ 208 ] [ 209 ]
 the un-discovered islands recent un-discoveries

failure, it is one of almost unmitigated success.

t e r r a n ova Throughout the twentieth century, Australia

was at the forefront of efforts to explore and map
islands
Antarctica, and the legacy of that work is clear. To-
day, the country claims around 42 per cent of the
entire continent – a territory that, at more than
n the history of polar exploration, it is two million square miles, is only twenty per cent
often those who have failed most spec- smaller than Australia itself. Phillip Law is in no
tacularly who have been lionised. Sir small part responsible for that legacy. Appointed
John Franklin is among the most famous of British as director of the Australian National Antarctic
explorers, though he didn’t find the Northwest Research Expeditions (a n a re) in 1949, Law es-
Passage, and he and 128 of his men died (and tablished the first two of the country’s permanent
probably ate each other). research stations – Mawson and Davis – and nego-
Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton are na­ tiated the transfer of the third, Wilkes, from the
tional heroes, though neither man achieved exact­ United States, thereby ensuring an Australian pres-
ly what they set out to do, and both also died ence on the continent that continues to this day.
trying. Perhaps this is why the name of Phillip Law He led 23 expeditions in his career, and succeed-
is not better known. For his is not a story of heroic ed in mapping more than 3,000 miles of coastline
and almost 400,000 square miles of the interior. He
Previous spread: Australian Antarctic Territory – Ross Dependency,
sr57-58, 1975. Geoscience Australia, National Library of Australia. visited parts of the continent no person had ever

[ 218 ] [ 219 ]
the un-discovered islands recent un-discoveries

all, there was no particular reason to seek out two

rocks in the half-frozen sea. But in February 1989,
a German scientific expedition, ganovex v, was
working along Oates Coast and took the opportu-
nity to visit these unexplored islands. Their geol-
ogists were helicoptered out to the location to map
them and to take rock samples. What they found,
or didn’t find, surprised them.
In a telex sent from their ship, the Polar Queen,
shortly afterwards, the fruitless search for the
Terra Nova Islands was described as an ‘interesting
discovery that shows how incompletely known
parts of the Antarctic coast still are today, or
how much less secure the “known” is’. The telex
was sent by Dr Norbert W. Roland, a scientist on
board, who explained that they had good reason
for assuming the islands would be there. They
were noted, after all, in the Antarctic Pilot, used by

Opposite: ‘New antarctic place names’, United States Board on Geo-

graphical Names, 1970.

[ 222 ] [ 223 ]
the un-discovered islands recent un-discoveries

[ 236 ] [ 237 ]
 recent un-discoveries

otherwise. A roughly oval stretch of land, 15 miles

sandy island long by three miles wide, was clearly shown, along-
side its name: Sandy Island.
The researchers approached the stated posi-
tion with some caution. After all, they had no idea
exactly what to expect. A half-submerged sand-
bar, a reef or shoal: such hazards are no less real
n November 2012, the Southern Surveyor, a in the twenty-first century than they ever were
research vessel from Australia, was in the
before, and the ambiguity of the available infor-
Coral Sea west of New Caledonia. The
mation meant that hidden dangers were a real
scientists on board were studying the tectonic
possibility. But in the end their caution proved un-
evolution of the region, but took a break from their
necessary. The ocean floor remained stubbornly in
work to investigate a rather peculiar anomaly.
place, more than a kilometre beneath them. The
They had noticed that an island indicated on
ship sailed right through the middle of Sandy Is-
some of their maps was not present on the nautical
land, and Sandy Island wasn’t there.
chart they were using. According to the chart, the
Within a few days, the world’s media were
ocean was never less than 1,400 metres deep in that
relating the details of this un-discovery to their
area, yet the maps – and Google Earth – indicated
readers. The Sydney morning Herald gleefully
Previous spread: Pacific Ocean in four sheets, 1875, drawn by R.C. Car- announced ‘The mystery of the missing island’,
rington; south west sheet. Auckland War Memorial Museum Tā-
maki Paenga Hira. Right, detail showing Sandy Island.
while the Guardian called it ‘The Pacific island

[ 238 ] [ 239 ]
 other un-discovered islands

other un-discovered
islands

Hundreds of islands have come and gone over the

centuries, in our stories and on our charts. This
book has introduced only a small selection of them.
Gathered below are ten additional islands, just
waiting to be explored.

buyan: This Slavic myth has clear echoes of clas-

sical and Celtic stories. The island is a place of
happiness and eternal life, which can appear and
then disappear again. Some versions of the tale de-
scribe Buyan as the source of all weather, where the
winds have their home. It has been linked to the
real island of Rügen – now part of Germany – in
the Baltic Sea.

[ 245 ]
 the un-discovered islands f u rt h e r r e a d i n g

crocker land further reading

Donald Baxter MacMillan, Four Years in the White
north (London, 1918).

General
t e r r a n o va i s l a n d s
Phillip Law, quoted in the Independent, 16 May 2010. William H. Babcock, Legendary Islands of the
Phillip Law, quoted in the Scotsman, 11 March 2010. Atlantic (American Geographical Society, 1922).

Phillip Law, quoted in Antarktis by Norbert Roland Donald S. Johnson, The Phantom Islands of the
(Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2009). Atlantic (Souvenir Press, 1997).

Telex sent by Dr Roland from the Polar queen, Raymond H. Ramsay, no Longer on the map
quoted in Antarktis by Norbert Roland (Spektrum (Ballantine Books, 1973).
Akademischer Verlag, 2009). (Translated from the Henry Stommel, Lost Islands (University of British
German by Anja Hedrich.) Columbia Press, 1984).

Individual Islands

Hundreds of books have been written about

atlantis, and dozens more about lemuria. The
vast majority of these can probably be read as fiction.

[ 254 ] [ 255 ]
 the un-discovered islands

Joanna Kavenna’s The Ice museum (Penguin,

2006) is an excellent introduction to thule, both
as a place and as an idea. Barry Cunliffe’s The
Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek (Walker
& Company, 2002) provides a more scholarly
approach to the subject.

Andrea di Robilant’s Venetian navigators (Faber

& Faber, 2011) offers a very readable account of
frisland and the other zeno islands, though
the author seems rather too eager to believe the tale.

Barbara Freitag’s Hy Brasil: The metamorphosis

of an Island (Rodopi, 2013) peels away the many
falsehoods and misconceptions that surround
hy brasil.

[ 256 ]