Thompson Island (South Atlantic)
Coordinates: 54°33′S 005°50′E / 54.55°S 5.833°E
Island
Thompson Island was a phantom island in the South Atlantic. According to the Global Volcanism Program, it was thought to be located about 70 km (43 mi) north-northeast of Bouvet Island,[1].
The island was first reported and named by whaling ship captain George Norris in 1825. The last reported sighting occurred in 1893; however, when the German survey ship Valdivia fixed the position of Bouvet in 1898, they looked for Thompson, but did not find it. If Thompson ever existed, it is probable that it disappeared in a volcanic eruption sometime in the 1890s.[2]
Thompson Island continued to appear on maps published as late as 1943.[3]
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[edit] In fiction
-- The climax of Geoffrey Jenkins' novel A Grue of Ice is set on Thompson Island. The author places the island 120 km (65 Nautical Miles) SSE of Bouvet Island, explaining the position discrepancy by means of light refraction in Antarctic waters.[4]
-- The novel "La piel fría" (The Cold Skin) by spanish writer Albert Sánchez Piñol, Its inspired in this island for the scenario in which the action takes place in the book.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Thompson Island". Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1806-03-.
- ^ P.E. Baker (1967). "Historical & Geological Notes on Bouvetoya". British Antarctic Survey Bulletin (13): 71–84. http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/documents/bas_bulletins/bulletin13_06.pdf.
- ^ A. R. H. and N. A. M. (1943). "Review: A New Chart of the Antarctic". The Geographical Journal 102 (1): 29–34. doi:10.2307/1789367. JSTOR 1789367.
- ^ Geoffrey Jenkins. A Grue of Ice. Fontana. ISBN 0006132693.
- Gaddis, Vincent (1965). Invisible Horizons. Philadelphia: Chilton.
- Stommel, Henry (1984). Lost Islands: The Story of Islands That Have Vanished from Nautical Charts. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, pp 98–99. ISBN 0774802103.
[edit] External links
- Thompson Island entry on the Legends and Sea Stories layer of BlooSee
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