Page "History of Tuvalu" Paragraph 11

In May 1819, Captain Arent de Peyster ( or Peyter ) of New York, as captain of the armed brigantine or privateer Rebecca, sailing under British colours, while on a voyage from Valparaíso to India, passed through the southern Tuvalu waters ; de Peyster sighted Nukufetau and Funafuti, which he named Ellice's Island after an English Politician, Edward Ellice, the Member of Parliament for Coventry and the owner of the Rebecca's cargo.

The next morning, De Peyster discovered another group of about seventeen low islands forty-three miles northwest of Funafuti, naming this group " De Peyster's Islands.

" It is the first name, however, that was eventually used for the whole island group.