Elizabeth Island is the name given to an island off the tip of South America visited by

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...

in September 1578, during his circumnavigation of the globe. The island was not seen again and is regarded as a

phantom Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phanto ...

. Various suggestions have been offered as to where Drake landed.L. Ivanov and N. Ivanova. Phantom Islands. In
''The World of Antarctica''.
Generis Publishing, 2022. pp. 74-77.

Background

In 1578 Drake, with a small flotilla, was seeking to enter the Pacific to attack Spanish trade there. In August 1578, he arrived at the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural ...

. By September he had found his way through and entered the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, only to be blown south in a series of storms. Parted from his consorts, Drake and his ship, ''Pelican'', were at latitude 57°S (from Nuno da Silva; according to

Richard Hakluyt Richard Hakluyt (; 1553 – 23 November 1616) was an English writer. He is known for promoting the British colonization of the Americas, English colonization of North America through his works, notably ''Divers Voyages Touching the Discov ...

"57 and a terce", i.e. 57°20') when, on 28 October, they encountered an island, and found shelter in a haven on its eastern shore.

Felix Riesenberg Felix Riesenberg (9 April 1879 – 19 November 1939) was an American maritime officer and writer of maritime professional, historical, and fictional literature in the early 20th century. Biography Riesenberg was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He ...

''Cape Horn'' Readers Union (1950) ASIN: B0007J077K p54 Drake remained for three or four days, gathering wood and water, and "herbes of grete virtue", before setting out for the coast of South America.

Description

The island was described by Francis Fletcher (the expedition's chaplain) who left sketches and a map, and by da Silva, the navigator. From this, marine historian

produced a composite: an island 30 miles from north to south, almost square, without a peak, with a lake at its centre; he hypothesised that it was the crater of an extinct volcano. He surmised a high shore, or cliff, on its southern shore, and a haven on the east. This place, named on later maps as Port Sir Francis Drake, was a sheltered harbour, with a depth of 20

fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. H ...

s and "a cannon shot" (about a mile) to the shore. Fletcher also reported finding "plenty of the small berry which we named currants", and that he had left a memorial to

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...

with the date and year of their visit. In a later account by

Richard Hawkins Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins (or Hawkyns) (c. 1562 – 17 April 1622) was a 17th-century English seaman, explorer and privateer. He was the son of Admiral Sir John Hawkins. Biography He was from his earlier days familiar with ships and the ...

, Drake reported that he had made his way to the southernmost point of the island, and, stretching out over the edge, was able to claim that he had been "more further south than ... any man as yet known".

Fate

Elizabeth Island, and Port Sir Francis Drake, appeared on maps as late as that of

Emanuel Bowen Emanuel Bowen (1694 – 8 May 1767) was a Welsh map engraver, who achieved the unique distinction of becoming Royal Mapmaker to both to King George II of Great Britain and Louis XV of France. Bowen was highly regarded by his contemporaries f ...

in 1747, but neither place was visited or seen again. Because of this, later writers have contended that Drake actually landed at

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

, from an account of the voyage – '' The World Encompassed'' – by Drake's nephew in 1628. However, Riesenberg points out that Horn Island lacks wood, or fresh water, or a safe haven, or any other feature that Drake described, and offered an alternative suggestion. He notes that the position of the island is that of the Pactolus Bank, a seamount rising to within of the surface, and suggests that the bank is the remnant of the island, disappeared in some volcanic eruption, or erosion by icebergs. The bank was discovered in 1885 by Capt. WD Burnham of the American ship ''Pactolus'', but more recent surveys have been unable to find the bank either, suggesting that it too may be a phantom island. However historian Mateo Martinic considers Sars Bank, 350 km south of

Diego Ramírez Islands The Diego Ramírez Islands () are a small group of Chilean subantarctic islands located at the southernmost extreme of South America. History The islands were sighted on 12 February 1619 by the Spanish Garcia de Nodal expedition, and named a ...

, as a better fit for Elizabeth Island. Another

Elizabeth Island Elizabeth Island may refer to: * Elizabeth Island (Alaska) * Elizabeth Island, Bahamas * Elizabeth Island, Bermuda * Elizabeth Island (Danube) * Elizabeth Island (Georgian Bay) * Elizabeth Island, Michigan * Elizabeth Island, New Zealand * E ...

in the

was named and claimed for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by Drake on 24 August 1578. Further confusing the issue, the entire

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

was called the ''Elizabethides'' or Elizabeth Islands. Elizabeth Island would be significant as one of the first English territorial claims in the New World, preceding Drake's claim of

New Albion New Albion, also known as ''Nova Albion'' (in reference to Albion, an archaic name for Great Britain), was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for Kingdom of England, England when he landed on the Nort ...

in 1579 and

Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North Ameri ...

's claim of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

in 1583. Only

Martin Frobisher Sir Martin Frobisher (; – 22 November 1594) was an English sailor and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada, before ...

's claims in

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

(1576) and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

were earlier.

References

External links

Bowen's 1747 map of the world
showing Port Sir Francis Drake west of Cape Horn (zoomable)
Bowen's 1747 map of the Americas
showing "Port discover'd by Sir Francis Drake"
Moll's 1720s map of the world
Port Sir Francis Drake marked southwest of Tierra Del Fuego, but no location (zoomable) {{Coord unknown, England English colonization of the Americas Islands of Tierra del Fuego Phantom subantarctic islands