History
In 1812 the British ship Isabella, captained by George Higton, was shipwrecked off "Eagle Island" (as it was then) Most of the crew were rescued by the American sealer Nanina, commanded by Captain Charles Barnard. However, realising that they would require more provisions for the expanded number of passengers, Barnard and a few others went out in a party to retrieve more food. During his absence the Nanina was taken over by the British crew and left them on the island. Barnard and his party were finally rescued in November 1814. In 1829 Barnard wrote A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt. Charles Barnard detailing the happenings.
The 1837 survey of the Falkland Islands under Lowcay noted that there were wild pigs on the island.
In 1929, Alexander Dugas, a Frenchman employed on Sealion Island committed suicide and his companions felt it necessary to inform the authorities. But the lack of harbors meant that no boat of any size could be kept on the island and so a determined individual called Benny Davis constructed a makeshift craft from wooden barrels and launched it into the surf. The remarkable sailor set out just before dark, and arrived at Speedwell Island some twelve hours later. He explained that he had simply headed west and then taken his direction from the smell of the cormorants on Annie Island .
Read more about this topic: Speedwell Island
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“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)