Tag: James Cook

• Monday, January 19th 2026 - 12:59 UTC

  South Georgia, Discovery Investigations: 100 Years Of Marine Science Stamp Release

  

  Two-hundred and fifty years ago Captain James Cook landed at Possession Bay and took possession of South Georgia, in the name of King George III and his heirs.

• Monday, November 17th 2025 - 21:06 UTC

  South Georgia stamps celebrate 250 years of British Crown possession

  

  The Falkland Islands Postal and Philatelic Service on Thursday 13 November released a commemorative set of stamps celebrating when Captain James Cook 250 years ago, landed at Possession Bay and took possession of the South Georgia island in the name of King George.

• Friday, January 17th 2025 - 08:47 UTC

  South Georgia Island, 250th Anniversary of British Possession, led by the great navigator James Cook

  

  On the 17th of January 1775, English Captain James Cook landed at Possession Bay in South Georgia Island. While his vessel HMS Resolution sat at anchor in the bay, Cook went ashore, hoisted the British flag and performed the ceremony of taking possession of the island, in the name of King George III and his heirs.

• Tuesday, January 25th 2022 - 09:12 UTC

  247 anniversary of South Georgia Possession for the British Crown

  

  Monday, January 17th was South Georgia Possession Day, marking 247 years since the first landing on the island was made by Captain James Cook. The British explorer was on his second world voyage aboard HMS Resolution.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2020 - 06:30 UTC

  Coin to mark 250th anniversary of the launching of James Cook HMS Resolution

  

  Pobjoy Mint has issued the first 50-penny coin on behalf of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands government. The new coin features the HMS Resolution, the ship that was captained by James Cook.

• Wednesday, February 19th 2020 - 06:48 UTC

  Modern, habitat restored South Georgia recalls Possession Day and James Cook in 1775

  

  Some 245 years and a month ago, James Cook, after 3 years at sea, took possession of South Georgia and claimed the land for His Britannic Majesty, King George the Third. On what must have been a routine summer’s day (January 17th) in the South-West Atlantic, the explorer described what he had discovered as a ‘land doomed by nature to perpetual frigidness’.

• Friday, February 2nd 2018 - 19:49 UTC

  South Georgia celebrated on 17 January “Possession Day”

  

  On 17th January 1775 a small party of men landed on a beach beneath snowy peaks and tumbling glaciers. In charge was an officer by the name of James Cook; the British Flag was planted, a volley of musket shot was fired, and the land was claimed for His Britannic Majesty. Cook named the bay in which he landed Possession Bay. On the 17th January 2018 (and every year) South Georgia marked ‘Possession Day’ with a bank holiday and reception at Government House.