Willis Islands

Not to be confused with Willis Island (Coral Sea).

Willis Islands

Geography
Location	South Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates	54°0′S 38°11′W
Administration
United Kingdom

The Willis Islands are a small archipelago to the west of the main island of South Georgia. They are 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Bird Island.

They were discovered on 14 January by Captain James Cook and named for Cook's midshipman Thomas Willis, the crew member who first sighted them.

Islands

• Main Island
• Verdant Islands
  • Trinity Island
  • Hall Island

Thomas Willis

Born in 1756, the son of Richard Willis, M.A., Rector of Hartley Mauditt, Hampshire, by his wife Anne (née) Hawkins, Thomas Willis had begun his career in the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. Dunkirk in 1769; he served on several other ships before joining Cook's crew on H.M.S. Resolution in 1772. Following the voyage, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1778, and joined H.M.S. Sultan. He lost his right leg in 1782 whilst serving as second lieutenant aboard the Royal William, during skirmishes with French and Spanish forces. Willis married Mary, daughter of Anthony Kirkham, of Deal, Kent, in 1781, and had a son, Richard. Thomas Willis died 15 July 1797. The Victoria Cross recipient Major Richard Raymond Willis was the great-great-great nephew of Thomas Willis.

See also

• Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
• List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands
• List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S
• SCAR
• Territorial claims in Antarctica

References

• Stonehouse, B (ed.) Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans (2002, ISBN 0-471-98665-8)

External links

• Map of Willis Islands

 This article incorporates public domain material from "Willis Islands". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.