The Auroras

Available for over a year

Join Orcadian composer Erland Cooper on a late-night voyage around the Atlantic in search of Phantom Islands... To explore the Aurora Islands in the South Atlantic - Erland is joined by Chilean historian Natalia Gándara Chacana, an expert on the scientific and cultural history of Latin America in the colonial and early republican period. The Auroras take their name from a Peruvian ship which reported a group of three Islands in 1762 whilst on a voyage from Lima to Cádiz, midway between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. South Georgia is about 500 miles from the South Orkney islands - named after Erland's home - which are located at roughly the same latitude south as Orkney is north. They are claimed by both Argentina and Britain. The Auroras were spotted by numerous more ships including in 1794 by the Spanish corvette Atrevida, which was despatched to find them as part of a scientific survey of the Patagonian coast. In a region where colonial powers were competing for control of the seas, islands held a particular importance and the Auroras had great geostrategic value, in addition to being a potential navigational hazard to ships in one of the most dangerous places to sail. They were dismissed as non-existent by the British admiralty in 1825 but they continued to be sighted and appeared on maps until the 1870s. Score by Erland Cooper Recorded at Studio Orphir Violin, Freya Goldmark Cello, Klara Shumann Soprano, Lottie Greenhow and Josephine Stephenson Readings by Keeley Forsyth from the journals of the Captain of the Atrevida and the Captain of the Helen Baird With thanks to Sara Jane Hall Producer: Victoria Ferran Exec producer: Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 3