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Thompson Island was a phantom island in the South Atlantic. According to the Global Volcanism Program, it was thought to be located about 70 km (43 mi; 38 nmi) north-northeast of Bouvet Island, a small Norwegian dependency located between South Africa and Antarctica.
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History
The island was first reported and named by whaling ship captain George Norris in 1825. The last reported sighting occurred in 1893. When, however, the German survey ship Valdivia fixed the position of Bouvet in 1898, it then looked for Thompson, but did not find it. If Thompson ever existed, it is probable that it disappeared in a volcanic eruption sometime in the 1890s, though in 1997 it was reported that the sea depth at the supposed location is greater than 2,400 metres (7,900 ft; 1.5 mi), rendering the existence of a submarine volcano uncertain.
Thompson Island continued to appear on maps published as late as 1943.