The Survey of Gough Island

Gough Island lies on the mid-Atlantic ridge some 230 miles south-south-east of Tristan da Cunha, the centre of the island being in 40° 19′ S. and 9° 56′ W. It is uninhabited and about eight miles long and four wide and, like Tristan, is more than 1,500 miles from the nearest continent, Africa. No shore based survey had ever been carried out on Gough before 1955 when the Gough Island Scientific Survey, a private expedition, visited the island. One of its objectives was to make the first accurate map of the island.