(1502), in the
Biblioteca Estense,
Modena,
Italy Because all Portuguese maps of discovery were destroyed by the 1 November 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, there is no way of knowing for certain, but hearsay suggests that Saint Brandon was discovered around 975 A.D. by
Arabian sailors along with
Dina Arobi (
"Abandoned Island"), now known as the island of Mauritius. It can also be found listed as on the 1502 Cantino Planisphere map, which was an illegal copy of a Portuguese map that documented the Arab discoveries and was smuggled to Italy and, for this reason, survived. It was named
Cargados Carajos in 1506 by Portuguese sailors who went ashore for provisioning after having been blown off course from their attempted passage through the Mozambique Channel (the shortest and safest route) on their way to
India. Pirates and
French corsairs have also used the islands as a refuge. In 1598, the Dutch occupied the islands. On 12 February 1662, the East India Ship
Arnhem ran aground on the Saint Brandon Rocks. Volkert Evertsz, the captain, and other survivors of the wreck survived by piloting a small boat to Mauritius, and are thought to have been the last humans to see living
dodos. They survived the three months until their rescue by hunting "goats, birds, tortoises and pigs". Evertsz was rescued by the English ship
Truroe in May 1662. Seven of the survivors chose not to return with the first rescue ship. Mauritius and its associated islands were colonised by the French some time around 1715, granted by the King of France to the in 1726 but retroceded to the French Crown in 1765. Saint Brandon was referred to as
Cargados in
Samuel Dunn's world map of 1794. On 9 June 1806, the French general
Charles Decaen ordered the corsair Charles Nicolas Mariette to send a spying mission to Saint Brandon and to leave six men on the most prominent island and, on his return trip to Mauritius, to ascertain once and for all that Cargados Carajos and Saint Brandon were the same shoal. The frigate
Piemontaise under the command of Louis Jacques Eperon le Jeune departed on 11 June 1806. In 1810, the islands were taken by force by Britain, becoming a
British crown colony. From October to November 1917, the Saint Brandon Islands and, in particular, the lagoon of L'Île Coco, were used as a base by the German
raiding vessel , commanded by
Karl August Nerger. On the island, transferred stoking coal and stores from the captured Japanese ship which took three weeks. The coal was necessary for the raider's return to Germany. To do so, had to run a gauntlet of Allied warships from near the Cape of the Good Hope to the North Atlantic. On 7 November 1917, the Germans scuttled off shore and departed. The most common employment on St. Brandon in 1922 was agriculture, with a manager, assistant manager and eleven labourers. Only two young men were recorded as working as fishermen. Three men worked as carpenters, one as a mason, one as a shoemaker and another as a domestic servant. There was no indication that the guano mines were operating. The islands were later mined for
phosphates derived from guano until mining activities ceased in the mid-20th century. Amateur radio operators have occasionally conducted
DXpeditions on Saint Brandon. In February and March 2023, the 3B7M expedition made more than 120,000 radio contacts. ==Shipwrecks==