in 1767 that the island was physically separate, and gave it the name Nova Hibernia, Latin for 'New Ireland'.

In the 1870s and 1880s, Marquis de Rays, a French nobleman, attempted to establish a French colony on the island called La Nouvelle France. He sent four ill-fated expeditions to the island, the most notable of which was the third attempt, now known simply as the De Rays Expedition, which caused the death of 123 of the 350 or so settlers.