In OTL, Bouvet Island was annexed by the Norwegians at the end of 1927 in the wake of the Norvegia expedition, which was the first to make an extended stay on the island. But until then, it was the British who had possessed that island, ever since George Norris (the captain of a whaling expedition) had claimed it for the British crown in 1825, naming it Liverpool Island; he had spotted what he thought was a second island and named it Thompson Island (but it turns out to be a phantom island).
As such, and using Norris's landing/takeover as a justification, the British initially protested the Norwegian takeover. Nonetheless, and I'm quoting from the Wikipedia page on Bouvet Island, "the British position was weakened by Norris's sighting of two islands and the uncertainty as to whether he had been on Thompson or Liverpool (i.e. Bouvet) Island. Norris's positioning deviating from the correct location combined with the island's small size and lack of a natural harbour made the UK accept the Norwegian claim. This resulted in diplomatic negotiations between the two countries, and in November 1929, Britain renounced its claim to the island."
If the British had managed to either wrestle possession of the island from the Norwegians, or the Norwegians had never been involved in the first place, would Bouvet Island these days be a possession of South Georgia/the South Sandwich Islands, of St. Helena/Ascension/Tristan da Cunha, or of South Africa?
As such, and using Norris's landing/takeover as a justification, the British initially protested the Norwegian takeover. Nonetheless, and I'm quoting from the Wikipedia page on Bouvet Island, "the British position was weakened by Norris's sighting of two islands and the uncertainty as to whether he had been on Thompson or Liverpool (i.e. Bouvet) Island. Norris's positioning deviating from the correct location combined with the island's small size and lack of a natural harbour made the UK accept the Norwegian claim. This resulted in diplomatic negotiations between the two countries, and in November 1929, Britain renounced its claim to the island."
If the British had managed to either wrestle possession of the island from the Norwegians, or the Norwegians had never been involved in the first place, would Bouvet Island these days be a possession of South Georgia/the South Sandwich Islands, of St. Helena/Ascension/Tristan da Cunha, or of South Africa?