 The island was first reported and named by whaling ship captain George Norris in 1825, supposedly the same day as sighting and landing on Bouvet Island, erroneously thinking the island to be undiscovered and naming it Liverpool Island.The last reported sighting was 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.