Ritchie’s Archipelago is a group of small islands which form part of the Andamans.
The main islands are:
Havelock Island – 92.2 sq. km
Henry Lawrence Island – 54.7 sq. km
John Lawrence Island – 34.8 sq. km
Peel Island – 23.7 sq. km
Wilson Island – 14.3 sq. km
Outram Island – 13.9 sq. km
Neill Island – 13.7 sq. km
John Ritchie was an 18th century Marine Surveyor who spent nearly twenty years charting this region. It was work he described as:
‘uncommonly severe, uncommonly hazardous, and equally unprofitable; for what advantage could be obtained from tracking a labyrinth of woods and rivers? Or from exploring the shoals of a shelving and broken Sea Coast? All of which are uninhabited, and seldom visited, except perhaps in the disastrous case of shipwreck.’
Ritchie’s Archipelago CJLL Wright
