Kerguelen Islands appeared as the "Ile de Nachtegal" on Philippe Buache's map from 1754 before the island is officially discovered in 1772.

The Buache map has the title Carte des Terres Australes comprises entre le Tropique du Capricorne et le Pôle Antarctique où se voyent les nouvelles découvertes faites en 1739 au Sud du Cap de Bonne Esperance ('Map of the Southern Lands contained between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Pole, where the new discoveries made in 1739 to the south of the Cape of Good Hope may be seen').

It is possible this early name was after Tasman's ship "De Zeeuwsche Nachtegaal."

On the Buache map, "Ile de Nachtegal" is located at 43°S, 72°E, about 6 degrees north and 2 degrees east of the accepted location of Grande Terre.

The islands are officially discovered by the French navigator Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec on February 15, 1772.

The next day Charles de Boisguehenneuc lands and claimed the island for the French crown.

Yves de Kerguelen organizes a second expedition in 1773 and arrives at the "baie de l'Oiseau" by December of the same year.

On  January 6, 1774 he commands his lieutenant, Henri Pascal de Rochegude, to leave a message notifying any passers-by of the two passages and of the French claim to the islands.

Hereafter, a number of expeditions briefly visit the islands, including that of Captain James Cook in December 1776 during his third voyage, who verifies and confirms the passage of de Kerguelen by discovering and annotating the message left by the French navigator.

Soon after their discovery, the archipelago will be regularly visited by whalers and sealers (mostly British, American and Norwegian) who will hunt the resident populations of whales and seals to the point of near extinction