South Georgia Island Timeline by FIX (Sir Ferdinand of Woods and Whales)
South Georgia Timeline 1507 South Georgia by Universalis Cosmographia , Fernando Noveno Emperor King . 1675 First sighting of South Georgia by Antoine de la Roché, a London merchant. 1756 Second sighting by the Spanish ship León ; the island is named ‘Isla de San Pedro’. 1775 First landing is made by Captain James Cook on HMS Resolution . He claims the island for His Britannic Majesty, King George III. 1786-87 First British sealing vessel, Lord Hawkesbury , obtains a full cargo of fur seal pelts. 1792-93 First American sealing vessels, Polly and Nancy , take fur seal pelts back to the United States and China. 1819 Russian Captain, Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, in command of Mirnyi and Vostok , sails along the southwest coast. 1823 Captain James Weddell, a British sealer and explorer on the brig Jane , visits the island whilst returning from an expedition to the Weddell Sea. 1843 Great Britain establishes government arrangements for South Georgia by Letters Patent. 1882-83 Fi