Bus, Buss, or Busse Island was a

phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

in the North Atlantic Ocean. It was recorded as discovered during the third expedition of

Martin Frobisher Sir Martin Frobisher (; c. 1535 – 22 November 1594) was an English seaman and privateer who made three voyages to the New World looking for the North-west Passage. He probably sighted Resolution Island near Labrador in north-eastern Canada ...

in September 1578 by sailors aboard the ship ''Emanuel'' of Bridgwater (a "busse") and was indicated on maps as existing between

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and mythical

Frisland Frisland, also called Frischlant, Friesland, Frislanda, Frislandia, or Fixland, is a phantom island that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the North Atlantic from the 1560s through the 1660s. History Frisland appears to have bee ...

at about 57° N. The island was then named for the type of vessel that its discoverers used.Gosch, C.C.A.
Danish Arctic Expeditions, 1605 to 1620. Book I.— The Danish Expeditions to Greenland in 1605, 1606, and 1607; to which is added Captain James Hall's Voyage to Greenland in 1612.
' "Appendix B. On 'Busse Island'." Hakluyt Society (London), 1897. It is believed that Frobisher took

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

for Frisland and

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

for Greenland and ''Emanuel'', returning home, made a mistake in dead reckoning and mistook optical effects near Greenland at around 62° N for new land. A Thomas Shepard claimed to have explored and mapped the island from ''Golden Lion'' of Dunkirk in 1671. As Atlantic traffic increased, the island's existence was less certain and its supposed size was greatly reduced. By 1745, it was apparent there was no island at the site claimed and it was renamed the Sunken Land of Buss, as the supposed area was relatively shallow. The island or 'site of sunken island' persisted on charts into the 19th century. Its existence at the location was finally disproved by John Ross in ''Isabella'' in 1818 during his first Arctic expedition, finding no depth at .

References

{{Authority control Phantom islands of the Atlantic Islands of the North Atlantic Ocean History of Greenland