Burdwood Island

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burdwood Island
Waters Atlantic Ocean
Geographical location 54 ° 9 ′  S , 59 ° 36 ′  W Coordinates: 54 ° 9 ′  S , 59 ° 36 ′  W
Burdwood Island (Atlantic Ocean)
Burdwood Island

In November 1828, Lieutenant Captain Thomas Burdwood from the British transport ship Kains discovered a small, rocky island called Burdwood Island on the voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Valparaíso at 54 ° 09 'S and 59 ° 36' W. The Spanish reported about such a rock as early as 1813, but this was considered dubious. The observations made by Lieutenant Burdwood were confirmed by the commander of a merchant ship, which determined the position of the rock some 120 nautical miles south of the Falkland Islands . However, Burdwood Island could not be found by Robert FitzRoy during his second expedition in December 1832 or by James Clark Ross in November 1842.

The two sightings that seem to confirm Burdwood's discoveries are most likely Beauchene Island south of East Falkland ( 52 ° 53 ′ 11 ″  S , 59 ° 12 ′ 13 ″  W ), while the relatively high latitude of Burdwood (1st ° 16 ') can probably be traced back to a mirage of the Beauchene Island, a phenomenon that is not uncommon in subpolar waters.

Burdwood Island gave the Burdwood Bank, located about 200 km south of the Falkland Islands, its name.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Findlay, Alexander George: A sailing directory for the Ethiopic or South Atlantic Ocean: including the coasts of South America and Africa; London: Laurie, 1867 (5th ed.), P. 247
  2. ^ Headland, Robert Keith: Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events; Cambridge 1990, p. 135