Hy-Brasil: The Phantom Island

For over five hundred years, European maps showed an island called Hy-Brasil in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Expeditions were launched to find it. Sailors claimed to have visited it. Some returned with detailed descriptions of its inhabitants and treasures. Yet Hy-Brasil could never be reliably located, appearing and disappearing like a ghost, until cartographers finally admitted it didn’t exist.

The Cartographic History

Early Maps

Hy-Brasil first appeared on maps in 1325:

• The Dalorto chart showed a circular island
• Located southwest of Ireland
• Named “Bracile” or similar spellings
• Depicted as a distinct landmass

Centuries of Inclusion

The island appeared on maps for over 500 years:

• 1375: Catalan Atlas
• 1480: Map by Andrea Bianco
• 1595: Map by Ortelius (the father of modern geography)
• 1865: Still on some British Admiralty charts

The Persistent Circle

Hy-Brasil was usually depicted as:

• Perfectly circular
• Divided by a central channel or river
• Located approximately 200 miles west of Ireland
• Consistent in placement across centuries

Final Removal

The island was finally removed from charts:

• British Admiralty charts dropped it in 1865
• Some sources cite 1872 as the final removal
• After 500+ years as a “real” place

Expeditions

John Cabot (1497)

The explorer who discovered Newfoundland:

• Was allegedly sent partly to find Hy-Brasil
• Some accounts claim he landed there
• Others say he merely searched for it
• The records are unclear

1480 Bristol Expedition

English merchants from Bristol:

• Launched multiple expeditions seeking Hy-Brasil
• Some claimed success
• No permanent discovery resulted
• The expeditions continued for years

1674: Captain John Nisbet

The most detailed “discovery”:

• Nisbet claimed his crew landed on the island
• They spent a day exploring
• They met inhabitants
• They described a large black rabbit
• They brought back gold and silver
• The island could never be found again

1872: The Final Sighting

The last reported sighting:

• Occurred near where Hy-Brasil should be
• Witnesses on multiple ships reported seeing land
• Attempts to reach it failed
• It was dismissed as fog or mirage

Descriptions

The Island Itself

Sailors who claimed to visit described:

• A circular or semicircular island
• Lush vegetation and forests
• A central channel dividing the land
• Rich in natural resources

The Inhabitants

Some accounts mentioned:

• Advanced civilization
• Skilled craftsmen and magicians
• Beings with supernatural knowledge
• People who lived in great towers
• A single magician ruling the island

The Enchantment

According to legend:

• Hy-Brasil was invisible most of the time
• It appeared once every seven years
• Dense fog surrounded it
• The enchantment could be broken with fire
• Once touched, it might become permanent

Origins of the Name

Celtic Connection

“Brasil” may derive from:

• “Bres” - beauty, worth, or great
• A mythological figure Bres
• Pre-Celtic words meaning “blessed” or “fortunate”
• No connection to the country Brazil (named later for brazilwood)

Irish Mythology

In Irish lore:

• Hy-Brasil was one of the islands of the Blessed
• It was home to the gods or the dead
• It represented a paradise beyond the western sea
• Similar to Avalon, Tír na nÓg, and other mythic isles

Explanations

Optical Phenomena

Fata Morgana

• A complex form of superior mirage
• Can make distant objects appear elevated
• Could create the appearance of islands
• Common in cold Atlantic waters

Fog Banks

• Distant fog formations can resemble land
• Persistent banks might seem island-like
• Could explain appearing/disappearing

Real Islands Misidentified

Possibilities include:

• Porcupine Bank (a shallow underwater plateau)
• Iceland or other real landmasses
• Temporary volcanic islands (now subsided)
• Rocks and shoals appearing larger in certain conditions

Pure Mythology

Perhaps Hy-Brasil was:

• Never based on any physical reality
• A legend that mapmakers took literally
• A product of wishful thinking about western lands
• Celtic mythology placed on charts

Lost Land

Some believe:

• Hy-Brasil was real but has since subsided
• Geological changes removed it
• Rising sea levels covered it
• The Atlantic has swallowed it

The Rendlesham Connection

1980 Incident

During the famous Rendlesham Forest UFO incident:

• Sergeant Jim Penniston touched a craft
• He later claimed he received a binary code message
• When translated, the coordinates pointed to Hy-Brasil’s traditional location
• The message said “ORIGIN 52 09 42.532 N 13 13 12.69 W” - Hy-Brasil’s area

This strange connection has never been explained.

Cultural Impact

Literature and Media

Hy-Brasil has appeared in:

• Irish folk tales and poetry
• Fantasy literature
• Video games
• Theories about Atlantis-like civilizations

The Phantom Island Genre

Hy-Brasil is one of many:

• Antillia (Seven Cities of Gold)
• St. Brendan’s Isle
• Frisland
• Islands that appeared on maps but never existed

Enduring Fascination

The island remains compelling because:

• It appeared on real maps for centuries
• People claimed to visit it
• The disappearing-island motif resonates
• It represents the unknown western ocean

What Was Hy-Brasil?

If Real

It might have been:

• A now-submerged landmass
• A volcanic island that disappeared
• A sandbar or shallow area
• Some formation that no longer exists

If Mythological

It represents:

• Celtic beliefs about the afterlife
• The human desire for paradise
• Mapmakers copying each other’s errors
• Legend treated as geography

The Truth

Probably:

• A combination of mirage sightings and mythology
• Reinforced by centuries of cartographic repetition
• Given credibility by claimed expeditions
• Never a permanent physical island

Legacy

Hy-Brasil represents:

• The persistence of phantom geography
• How maps can perpetuate nonexistent places
• The boundary between legend and cartography
• The human desire to find earthly paradise

For five centuries, an island waited west of Ireland on the maps. Sailors sought it. Some claimed to find it. Then it would vanish, hidden in mist, waiting to appear again.

In the end, Hy-Brasil existed only on parchment and in imagination. But for those who believed, who searched, who claimed to have walked its shores - it was as real as Ireland itself.

Some places exist whether they’re there or not.

Hy-Brasil was one of them.

And somewhere in the Atlantic, where the island should be, there’s only open water now.

Unless the mist parts.

Unless it’s one of those seven-year days.

Unless you’re lucky enough - or cursed enough - to find what can’t be found.