Bernhard Krauth explains that Tabor/Maria Theresa's existence was reported in three contemporary newspapers as a dangerous reef seen on 16 November 1843 by a Captain Asaph P. Taber (not "Tabor") of the Maria-Theresa, a New Bedford, Massachusetts, whaler, to be situated at 37°00′S 151°00′W / 37.000°S 151.000°W / -37.000; -151.000, later adjusted to 37°00′S 151°13′W / 37.000°S 151.217°W / -37.000; -151.217.

[3] Hugh Cassidy, discussing his escapades, claims that "A nautical chart... issued by the W. Faden Company, Oceanographers to the King [George III], in 1817 lists Maria Theresa."

In 1966 amateur radio journal "CQ" published a photo and description of Don Miller transmitting from what he claimed was Maria Teresa Reef.

Its coordinates being half-erased in the help message found by the children, it takes them months to find the castaways, with the help of Lord Glenarvan on board of his yacht "Duncan".

At the end of the book, Ayrton, the renegade, is left in Grant's place to live among the beasts and regain his humanity.

Verne goes on to explain that "It was really an islet, measuring no more than six miles in circumference, an elongated oval hardly fringed by any capes or promontories, coves, or creeks.

The Vernian scholar, William Butcher, to sum up a complex situation of locating Tabor Island in real life, explains that Verne positions Tabor 153 degrees W of both Paris (as in Castaways) and Greenwich (as in Mysterious Island), whereas in real life it would be about 151 or 153 degrees W of only Greenwich (according to Krauth and Faivre, respectively).

Furthermore, the character Cyrus Smith of The Mysterious Island seems to go wrong in his calculation of Tabor's position, possibly by as much as four degrees.