An 1868 map of South America, showing the Aurora Islands east of the Falkland Islands.
The Aurora Islands were a group of three islands first reported in 1762 by the Spanish ship Aurora while sailing from Lima to C diz, and then again in 1794 by the corvette Atrevida, which had been sent to find them. Their reported location was east of Cape Horn, approximately half way between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia at 53 S, 48 W.
The islands were last sighted in 1856, and have subsequently been ascribed a mythical status, although they continued to appear on maps of the south Atlantic until the 1870s.
It is unknown if the Aurora Islands ever actually existed, or if persistent reports of them may have simply been the result of mid-ocean atmospheric peculiarities or optical illusions.
They are the subject of a 2001 novel entitled Hippolyte's Island, by Barbara Hodgson, during which they are rediscovered by the book's protagonist.
References
"No Longer on the Map" by Raymond Ramsay (Ballantine Books 1972), pages 78-80
"Aurora" was built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany and arrived off the Isle of Wight on 16th April, where she was escorted by the "Tall Ships" into her home port of Southampton.
At the mouth of the estuary the rocky and picturesque Cies Islands shelter the bay from Atlantic gales.
Madeira is a Portuguese island lying west of Morocco in the Atlantic.
Feeds |
Contact