Tag: Possession Day

• 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, 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.