Willis Islands

Willis Islands

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
Geography
Location	South Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates	54°0′S 38°11′W / 54.000°S 38.183°W / -54.000; -38.183
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.^[1] The Victoria Cross recipient Major Richard Raymond Willis was the great-great-great nephew of Thomas Willis.^[2]

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

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Capital: King Edward Point (Grytviken)
General	Coat of arms Commissioner Flag Foreign relations History Languages List of South Georgians Operation "Paraquet" South Georgia Museum .gs Sovereignty Invasion of South Georgia
Settlements / Whaling stations	Grytviken Godthul Husvik Leith Harbour Ocean Harbour Prince Olav Harbour Rosita Harbour Stromness Corbeta Uruguay base
South Georgia islands	Annenkov Island Bird Island Black Rock Black Rocks Clerke Rocks Cooper Island Grass Island Grassholm Kupriyanov Islands Pickersgill Islands Prion Island Saddle Island Shag Rocks South Georgia Trinity Island Welcome Islands Willis Islands
South Sandwich islands	Bellingshausen Bristol Candlemas Cook Leskov Montagu Saunders Thule Vindication Visokoi Zavodovski Traversay Islands
Landmarks	Admiralty Peak Allardyce Range Fortuna Glacier Gold Harbour Larsen Harbour Mount Baume Mount Belinda Mount Cunningham Mount Paget Mount Roots Peggotty Bluff Salisbury Plain Salvesen Range Southern Thule Thatcher Peninsula Grace Glacier Lucas Glacier Bay of Isles Point Abrahamsen Sheep Point Stromness Bay Cumberland Bay Possession Bay Sheer Point Busen Point

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Willis Islands" (content from the Geographic Names Information System). Coordinates: 54°0′S 38°11′W / 54.000°S 38.183°W / -54.000; -38.183