Aurora Islands

The Aurora Islands consisted initially of two phantom islands first reported in 1762 by the Spanish barque Aurora (Capt. José de la Llana) while sailing from Lima to Cádiz. The ship's master who discovered them estimated their location as being 35 leagues (210 kms) east of the Malvinas/Falklands. The more easterly island he named "La Raza" (low-lying), position 53°02′40″S 41°38′00″W. The westerly island ("Isla Sur") had a north-south axis and was five to six miles in length. Its shores were inaccessible with much surf. He estimated the position of Isla Sur as 53°15′S 325°22′W by the Tenerife meridian. The island was separated into two parts by a channel. The waterway was clear and the barque made the transit between overhanging cliffs. He was unable to find bottom in 120 fathoms one mile north of the island. In 1769 the frigate San Miguel saw allegedly at 53°27′S 318°36′W (Tenerife longitude) "six mogotes=rocks of various sizes" which are now considered likely to have been the Cormorans/Shag Rocks 400 kms to the east. In 1774 the frigate Aurora at 53°38′S 316°10' (Tenerife longitude) reported sighting a number of "mogotes", in greenish waters, the presence of many small birds being noted. An island was seen with a NW/SE axis, about three leagues (18 kilometres) in length. To the east-south-east of this island about three to four leagues distant was another small island with much surf calculated to be at 53°42′S 316°33' (Tenerife meridian). Other vessels such as La Perla (1779) and Dolores(1780) also reported seeing the islands but failed to describe them or provide the coordinates(1).

Between 1789 and 1794, the corvettes Descubierta and Atrevida under Alejandro Malaspina engaged in a political-scientific expedition to review all Spanish possessions worldwide. In the course of this research, in January 1794, after synchronizing the marine chronometers at Puerto de la Soledad (East Falkland), the corvette Atrevida headed east and as expected on 21 January 1794 she came across an island at 53°15′22″S 41°40′W described as "a large mountain in the shape of a bell tent with a central break formed by two vertical walls." This matched the description of Isla Sur visited by the Aurora in 1762. The eastern side was snow-covered, the western aspect very dark with ravines and snowy slopes. Atrevida circumnavigated this island from one mile offshore. The southern part was found to be snow covered, the north flank snow free. On 22 January 1794 the low-lying second island La Raza, also snow covered and evidently smaller than Isla Sur, was seen at 53°02′40″S 41°38′W(2).

On 26 January 1794 "a huge fragmented rock with sharp peaks at either end and a central gorge" was discovered at 52°37′24″S 41°26′00″W. This island was previously unknown, and was therefore named "Isla Nueva". The north-eastern section was snow covered, the southern part clear. A heavy surf was running a mile off the southern end where there were numerous rocky outcrops. Atrevida circumnavigated the island at a safe distance offshore and took soundings, all of which failed to find bottom. No estimate of the size of the island appears in the record(3).

The expedition based longitudes on the Cádiz meridian instead of Greenwich, the observations being corrected by the addition of 6°17'15". The latitudes are considered perfect. Since Atrevida had come east from the Falklands, and on 27 January 1794 proceeded to the Shag and Black Rocks and the South Georgias over 400 kms farther east, just as Aurora had done in 1762, it must be concluded that the corvette was physically present for six days before three unknown sizeable islands which have since disappeared. The islands were last sighted in 1856, but continued to appear on maps of the South Atlantic until the 1870s.

It is possible that the Aurora island "Isla Nueva" was discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in his 1501/1502 voyage with a Portuguese expedition. In his "Lettera" of 1504, his most detailed note, he states that he left the coast of Brazil from Cabo Frío and followed the path of the Sirocco south-east covering 500 leagues (about 3000 kilometres) by sea down to 50°S or 52°S. The probability is confirmed by Vice-Admiral Ernesto Basilico in The Third Voyage of Amerigo Vespucci (Buenos Aires, 1967) and by Lt-Cdr Barreiro Meiro (General Journal of Navy, October 1968, Madrid). In latitude 52°S Vespucci discovered an island 20 leagues (118 kilometres) long: since the first two islands discovered by the Aurora in 1762 were no more than 20 kilometres long, the island found by Vespucci could only have been Isla Nueva, whose length is unknown.

"We sailed so much with this wind (the Sirocco) that we found ourselves in latitudes so high that the midday fix was 52° above the horizon and we could no longer see the stars of the Little Bear nor the Big Bear constellations. This was the 3 April 1502. That day a storm blew up so strong that it made us furl all our sails and run with bare masts before strong winds from the south-east, enormous seas and stormy gusts. Such was the tempest that all the fleet was greatly fearful. The nights were very long, and the one of 7 April was of fifteen hours duration since the sun was at the end of Aries, and in this region it was winter, as Your Majesty can calculate. In the middle of this storm of 7 April we sighted a new land, which we sailed alongside of for almost 20 leagues, finding the coast wild, and we did not see any harbour or people. I believe because the cold was so intense that none of us could remedy it or bear it."

The only large islands in 52°S latitude still extant were the as then undiscovered Falklands/Malvinas, but Vespucci's description does not fit the Falklands, whose low-lying coasts are full of coves for shelter and are not "wild". 3 April is not winter but the first month of autumn and a night of fifteen hours duration implies a mysterious shift of the sun: furthermore sailors would not find the cold intolerable at that season of the year in 52°S. The suggestion of aberrant conditions accompanying a fierce storm is typical of a number of phantom islands, particularly St Brendan's Island.

The islands are the subject of a 2001 novel entitled Hippolyte's Island, by Barbara Hodgson, during which they are rediscovered by the book's protagonist. In an episode in Edgar Allan Poe's novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Pym and his crewmates search for but fail to find them.

See also

Notes

1. Josef Espinosa y Tello (Chief of the Spanish Royal Naval Squadron): Memorias sobre las observaciones astronómicas hechos por los navagantes españoles en distintos lugares del globo, Imprenta Real, Madrid 1809, Volume I, Memoria II: footnote, page 31.

2. Ibid, p.215-216.

3. Ibid, p.217.

References