Episode 1 of 3
Crossing the Gilbert Islands
- When
- 1788
- Where
- Gilbert Islands chain, Micronesia
Gilbert and Marshall sailed through six Gilbert atolls in 1788 without landing, the first Europeans recorded there.
In 1788, Captain Thomas Gilbert on Charlotte and Captain John Marshall on Scarborough crossed through Kuria, Aranuka, Tarawa, Abaiang, Butaritari, and Makin without attempting to land on the atolls. Their vessels had been part of the First Fleet taking convicts from England to Botany Bay and were en route to Guangzhou when they passed through the Gilbert Islands.
Sources
- Gilbert Islands Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-10
- Marshall Islands Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.