Pepys Island, the Phantom of the South Atlantic
In 1683, a sailor reported a green island with a fine harbour in the South Atlantic. The Royal Navy spent decades looking for it.
What was reported
In 1683, the English buccaneer Ambrose Cowley wrote that he had sighted an unknown island in the South Atlantic, green with trees and with a harbour big enough for a thousand ships. He named it after Samuel Pepys, then a senior official of the Admiralty.
It went onto the maps. In 1764, Commodore John Byron was sent to find it, and searched for days without success. Others tried after him. It stayed on some charts into the 19th century.
Explanations offered
Most historians think Cowley saw the Falkland Islands and recorded the latitude wrongly. Phantom islands like this were common on old maps, copied from one to the next long after anyone had seen them.
- When
- Reported in 1683
- Where
- South Atlantic Ocean, north of the Falklands
- Witnesses
- A buccaneer and the sailors who searched for it
- Status
- Never existed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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