McNish Island is the larger of two islands lying at the east side of Cheapman Bay

Cheapman Bay

Cheapman Bay is a bay wide, indenting the south coast of South Georgia close west of King Haakon Bay. The name Cheapman Strand was given to a feature in this vicinity by an American sealing expedition which visited South Georgia in 1877–78. The name was recorded as Chapman Strand and applied to...

 on the south side of South Georgia. It was surveyed by the South Georgia Survey in the period 1951-57, and named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) for Harry McNish

Harry McNish

Harry McNish was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917...

 (1874-1930), carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition , also known as the Endurance Expedition, is considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Conceived by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the expedition was an attempt to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent...

of 1914–1917. The name was changed from McNeish Island to McNish Island in 1998 after submittal of Henry McNish's birth certificate to the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee proved the correct spelling of his surname.