Historedia
Asia PacificEvent

Charting of the Antipodes Islands

When
1800
Where
Antipodes Islands
Episodes
1

In March 1800 Captain Henry Waterhouse, commanding HMS Reliance, sighted the Antipodes Islands and in 1800 became the first person to chart the group, inhospitable volcanic islands south of New Zealand.

Episodes

  1. 25 March 1800 – 1800 · Antipodes IslandsSighting and charting of the Antipodes Islands

    Captain Henry Waterhouse, commanding HMS Reliance, sighted the Antipodes Islands on 25 March 1800 and became the first person to chart them.

Background and detail

Background. The Antipodes Islands (Māori: Moutere Mahue, 'Abandoned Island') are uninhabited volcanic islands in subantarctic waters south of New Zealand, of which they are territorially part. The group comprises Antipodes Island of 20 km2, Bollons Island to the north, and numerous small islets and stacks.

Henry Waterhouse. Henry Waterhouse (13 December 1770 – 27 July 1812) was an English Royal Navy officer who became an early settler in the Colony of New South Wales. He made several voyages to Norfolk Island, and in 1800 returned to Britain, where he was promoted to Captain on 25 October that year.

Aftermath. In 1803 Waterhouse's brother-in-law George Bass applied to Governor Philip Gidley King of New South Wales for a fishing monopoly covering southern New Zealand's lands and seas, including the Antipodes Islands, probably because he knew the islands were home to large populations of fur seals.

People involved

  • Henry Waterhouse · Captain commanding HMS Reliance; first to chart the Antipodes Islands

Sources

  1. Antipodes Islands Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25
  2. Henry Waterhouse Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-09

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.