Ferdinandea
Encyclopedia
Ferdinandea is a submerged volcanic island which forms part of the underwater volcano Empedocles
, 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) south of Sicily
, and which is one of a number of submarine volcanoes known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia
. Currently a seamount
, eruptions have raised it above sea level
several times before erosion
has caused it to submerge again. When it last rose above sea level after erupting in 1831, a four-way dispute over its sovereignty began, which was still unresolved when it disappeared beneath the waves again in early 1832. During its brief life, the French geologist Constant Prévost
was on hand, accompanied by an artist, to witness it in July 1831; he named it Île Julia, for its July appearance, and reported in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France
. Some observers at the time wondered if a chain of mountains would spring up, linking Sicily to Tunisia and thus upsetting the geopolitics of the region. More recently, it has showed signs of volcanic activity in 2000 and 2002, forecasting a possible appearance; however, as of 2006 it remains 6 metres under sea level.
and Tunisia
in the Mediterranean Sea
. Many submarine volcanoes (seamount
s) exist in the region, as well as some volcanic islands such as Pantelleria
. Volcanic activity at Ferdinandea was first reported during the First Punic War
, and the island has appeared and disappeared four or five times. Several eruptions have been reported since the 17th century.
spanning from June 28 to July 10 reported by the nearby town of Sciacca
. On July 4 an odor of sulfur
spread through the town reportedly in such quantities that it blackened silver. On July 13, a column of smoke was clearly seen from St. Domenico. The residents believed it to be a ferry on fire. On the same day, the brig
Gustavo
passed through the area, confirming a bubbling in the sea that the captain thought was a sea monster
. Another ship reported dead fish floating in the water. By July 17, a fully grown islet had formed.
The eruptions of 1831 resulted in the island increasing in size to about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi). However, it was composed of loose tephra
, easily eroded by wave action, and when the eruptive episode ended it rapidly subsided, disappearing beneath the waves in January 1832, before the issue of its sovereignty could be resolved. Fresh eruptions in 1863 caused the island to reappear briefly before again sinking below sea level. At its maximum (in July and August 1831), it was 4800 metres (15,748 ft) in circumference and 63 metres (206.7 ft) in height. It sported two small lakes, the larger of which was 20 metres (65.6 ft) in circumference and 2 metres (6.6 ft) in depth.
Ferdinandea was subject to a four-way dispute over its sovereignty
, originally claimed for the United Kingdom
and given the name Graham Island. The King of the Two Sicilies
, Ferdinand II
, after whom the island was named Ferdinandea, sent ships to the nascent island to claim it for the Bourbon crown. The French Navy
also made a landing, and called the island Julia. Spain
also declared its territorial ambitions. Each wanted the island for its useful position in the Mediterranean trade route (to England and France) and its close position to Spain and Italy.
. The small volcanic point was an important strategic point in the Mediterranean to the world's largest sea force of the time, being closer to Spain
and Italy
than Malta
, the next closest. The British fleet landed, named it Graham Island, after Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and planted their flag, the Union Jack.
But the King of Sicily also realized its strategic significance, and dispatched the corvette
Etna to claim the new land and dub it Ferdinandea in honor of King Ferdinand II
. Last on the scene was Constant Prévost
, a co-founder of the French Geological Society, who compared the eruption to a bottle of champagne being uncorked. He named the island Julia, because it was born in July. Diplomatic wrangling broke out.
over a roughly 60 metres (196.9 ft) high piece of basalt
. Tourists traveled to the island to see its two small lakes.
Sailors watched it when passing by, and nobles of the House of Bourbon
reportedly planned
to set up a holiday resort on its beaches. None of these ideas came to light, however, as the island soon sank back beneath the waters. By December 17, 1831, officials reported no trace of it. As dynamically as the seamount appeared, it disappeared, defusing the conflict with it.
After 1863 the volcano lay dormant for many decades, its summit just 8 metres (26.2 ft) below sea level.
Following the 1986 US bombing of Libya, American warplanes mistook the shoal for a Libyan submarine and dropped depth charges on it.
In 2000, renewed seismic
activity around Ferdinandea led volcanologist
s to speculate that a new eruptive episode could be imminent, and the seamount might once again become an island. To forestall a renewal of the sovereignty disputes, Italian divers planted a flag on the top of the volcano in advance of its expected resurfacing. To bolster their case, Sicilians, who call it Ferdinandea, summoned the descendant of the Bourbon King of Naples. In a ceremony filmed by a flotilla of camera crews, Prince Carlo di Bourbon lowered a plaque into the waves and told cheering locals: "It will always be Sicilian." C. Lobbied by fishermen and sailors, Ignazio Cucchiara, the mayor of Sciacca
, invited Prince Carlo
to attend the ceremony with his wife, Countess Camilla Cruciani
. To accommodate television crews the plaque was lowered well before reaching the shoal, which is a danger to shipping. Choppy waters forced divers to postpone the operation a week, until November 13, 2000. The diving crew planted Sicily's flag, which features a Medusa's head surrounded by three naked legs – a sign traditionally interpreted as "keep away."
The marble plaque, weighing 150 kg, was inscribed “This piece of land, once Ferdinandea, belonged and shall always belong to the Sicilian people." The Prince told cheering locals: “It will always be Sicilian.” But within six months it had been fractured into 12 pieces, mostly likely by fishing gear but possibly by vandalism. Professor Enzo Boschi, from the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, told BBC News Online
, in November 2002:
magazine, Boris Behncke, a German researcher at the University of Catania
's department of geological sciences in Sicily, said:
, however, kept all options open. The British government “would look at this if and when any island were to emerge,” she said, adding: “We don't want to make waves now.
The sudden geologic phenomenon was observed and studied by numerous scientists. Among the Germans were Hoffmann, Schultz, and Philippi. Among the English were Edward Davy
and Warington Wilkinson Smyth
. Among the French was Constant Prévost
. Among the Italians there was Scinà Domenico (1765-1837) who published his observations in the "Effeméridi Sicilians" (1832- Vol. 2), and Carlo Gemmellaro (1787–1866), teacher of geology and mineralogy at Catania University, who published "Actions of the Gioenia Academy of Catania" (1831- Vol.8).
In 2006, further study revealed Ferdinandea to be just one part of the larger volcano Empedocles
.
of most seafaring vessels. It is also a small shoal on which near-surface maritime
creatures dwell.
by this time and the coin did not circulate.) The designer of the coin is David Mannucci. The idea to make this coin occurred to Mannucci after he “found out the existence of the ghost island” from a newspaper article. Besides the copper piece, varieties exist in silver, copper “with protective enamel”, and in silver “with protective enamel”. While this Italian-made coin fittingly bears the Italian name for the island, the conflicted piece also features a bust of “Elizabeth II D.G.R.” and bears a British denomination.
's The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak, Alexandre Dumas, père
's The Speronara and Jules Verne
's Captain Antifer
and The Survivors of the Chancellor
. It also provided the inspiration for the isle of Leshp in Terry Pratchett
's Jingo
.
Empedocles (volcano)
Empedocles is a large underwater volcano located 40 km off the southern coast of Sicily named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles who believed that everything on Earth was made up of the four elements....
, 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) south of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, and which is one of a number of submarine volcanoes known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia
Campi Flegrei Mar Sicilia
Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia is a field of submarine volcanoes located south-west of Sicily. It includes the vent of Ferdinandea, otherwise known as Graham Island, which erupted and emerged above sea level in 1831, and encompasses a larger volcano known as Empedocles. The last recorded eruption...
. Currently a seamount
Seamount
A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of depth. They are defined by oceanographers as...
, eruptions have raised it above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
several times before erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
has caused it to submerge again. When it last rose above sea level after erupting in 1831, a four-way dispute over its sovereignty began, which was still unresolved when it disappeared beneath the waves again in early 1832. During its brief life, the French geologist Constant Prévost
Constant Prévost
Louis-Constant Prévost was a French geologist.He was the son of the tax farmer Louis Prévost, receiver of the rentes of Paris...
was on hand, accompanied by an artist, to witness it in July 1831; he named it Île Julia, for its July appearance, and reported in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France
Société géologique de France
The Société géologique de France is a French learned society founded on 17 March 1830. As of 2006, it counts 1,200 members....
. Some observers at the time wondered if a chain of mountains would spring up, linking Sicily to Tunisia and thus upsetting the geopolitics of the region. More recently, it has showed signs of volcanic activity in 2000 and 2002, forecasting a possible appearance; however, as of 2006 it remains 6 metres under sea level.
Early history
Ferdinandea lies in a volcanic area known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (Phlegraean Fields of the Sea of Sicily), in between SicilySicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Many submarine volcanoes (seamount
Seamount
A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of depth. They are defined by oceanographers as...
s) exist in the region, as well as some volcanic islands such as Pantelleria
Pantelleria
Pantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
. Volcanic activity at Ferdinandea was first reported during the First Punic War
First Punic War
The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in...
, and the island has appeared and disappeared four or five times. Several eruptions have been reported since the 17th century.
1831 eruption
Ferdinandea's most recent appearance as an island was in July 1831. The first sign of an eruption was a period of high seismic activityEarthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
spanning from June 28 to July 10 reported by the nearby town of Sciacca
Sciacca
Sciacca , also Schiacca, is a town and comune in the province of Agrigento on the southwestern coast of Sicily...
. On July 4 an odor of sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
spread through the town reportedly in such quantities that it blackened silver. On July 13, a column of smoke was clearly seen from St. Domenico. The residents believed it to be a ferry on fire. On the same day, the brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Gustavo
Gustavo
- Drama, film and television :* Gustavo Alatriste, Mexican actor, director, and producer of films married to Silvia Pinal* Gustavo Aguerre , Argentine artist, curator, writer, and theatre designer...
passed through the area, confirming a bubbling in the sea that the captain thought was a sea monster
Sea monster
Sea monsters are sea-dwelling mythical or legendary creatures, often believed to be of immense size.Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or multi-armed beasts. They can be slimy or scaly and are often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water...
. Another ship reported dead fish floating in the water. By July 17, a fully grown islet had formed.
The eruptions of 1831 resulted in the island increasing in size to about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi). However, it was composed of loose tephra
Tephra
200px|thumb|right|Tephra horizons in south-central [[Iceland]]. The thick and light coloured layer at center of the photo is [[rhyolitic]] tephra from [[Hekla]]....
, easily eroded by wave action, and when the eruptive episode ended it rapidly subsided, disappearing beneath the waves in January 1832, before the issue of its sovereignty could be resolved. Fresh eruptions in 1863 caused the island to reappear briefly before again sinking below sea level. At its maximum (in July and August 1831), it was 4800 metres (15,748 ft) in circumference and 63 metres (206.7 ft) in height. It sported two small lakes, the larger of which was 20 metres (65.6 ft) in circumference and 2 metres (6.6 ft) in depth.
Dispute
Ferdinandea was subject to a four-way dispute over its sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
, originally claimed for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and given the name Graham Island. The King of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
, Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death.-Family:Ferdinand was born in Palermo, the son of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife and first cousin Maria Isabella of Spain.His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Marie...
, after whom the island was named Ferdinandea, sent ships to the nascent island to claim it for the Bourbon crown. The French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
also made a landing, and called the island Julia. Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
also declared its territorial ambitions. Each wanted the island for its useful position in the Mediterranean trade route (to England and France) and its close position to Spain and Italy.
Initial conflict
In August 1831 the volcano had risen to above sea level, although still only a couple of rocks, but the British Navy thought it was very suitable as a base to control the traffic in the Mediterranean, as it was closer to the European continent than the island of MaltaMalta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
. The small volcanic point was an important strategic point in the Mediterranean to the world's largest sea force of the time, being closer to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
than Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, the next closest. The British fleet landed, named it Graham Island, after Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and planted their flag, the Union Jack.
But the King of Sicily also realized its strategic significance, and dispatched the corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Etna to claim the new land and dub it Ferdinandea in honor of King Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death.-Family:Ferdinand was born in Palermo, the son of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife and first cousin Maria Isabella of Spain.His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Marie...
. Last on the scene was Constant Prévost
Constant Prévost
Louis-Constant Prévost was a French geologist.He was the son of the tax farmer Louis Prévost, receiver of the rentes of Paris...
, a co-founder of the French Geological Society, who compared the eruption to a bottle of champagne being uncorked. He named the island Julia, because it was born in July. Diplomatic wrangling broke out.
Extended conflict
For five months conflict raged in newspapers and elsewhere as the different nations foughtover a roughly 60 metres (196.9 ft) high piece of basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
. Tourists traveled to the island to see its two small lakes.
Sailors watched it when passing by, and nobles of the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
reportedly planned
to set up a holiday resort on its beaches. None of these ideas came to light, however, as the island soon sank back beneath the waters. By December 17, 1831, officials reported no trace of it. As dynamically as the seamount appeared, it disappeared, defusing the conflict with it.
Recent activity
Following the 1986 US bombing of Libya, American warplanes mistook the shoal for a Libyan submarine and dropped depth charges on it.
In 2000, renewed seismic
Seismology
Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake effects, such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic,...
activity around Ferdinandea led volcanologist
Volcanologist
A volcanologist is a person who studies the formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra , rock and lava samples...
s to speculate that a new eruptive episode could be imminent, and the seamount might once again become an island. To forestall a renewal of the sovereignty disputes, Italian divers planted a flag on the top of the volcano in advance of its expected resurfacing. To bolster their case, Sicilians, who call it Ferdinandea, summoned the descendant of the Bourbon King of Naples. In a ceremony filmed by a flotilla of camera crews, Prince Carlo di Bourbon lowered a plaque into the waves and told cheering locals: "It will always be Sicilian." C. Lobbied by fishermen and sailors, Ignazio Cucchiara, the mayor of Sciacca
Sciacca
Sciacca , also Schiacca, is a town and comune in the province of Agrigento on the southwestern coast of Sicily...
, invited Prince Carlo
Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro is one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.-Early life and education:...
to attend the ceremony with his wife, Countess Camilla Cruciani
Princess Camilla, Duchess of Castro
Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Castro is the wife of Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, a claimant to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies....
. To accommodate television crews the plaque was lowered well before reaching the shoal, which is a danger to shipping. Choppy waters forced divers to postpone the operation a week, until November 13, 2000. The diving crew planted Sicily's flag, which features a Medusa's head surrounded by three naked legs – a sign traditionally interpreted as "keep away."
The marble plaque, weighing 150 kg, was inscribed “This piece of land, once Ferdinandea, belonged and shall always belong to the Sicilian people." The Prince told cheering locals: “It will always be Sicilian.” But within six months it had been fractured into 12 pieces, mostly likely by fishing gear but possibly by vandalism. Professor Enzo Boschi, from the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, told BBC News Online
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
, in November 2002:
We have observed minor seismic activity, gas emissions but this is quite normal.He put the time of resurfacing at a couple of weeks or months. However, in an interview with Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, Boris Behncke, a German researcher at the University of Catania
University of Catania
The University of Catania is a university located in Catania, Italy, and founded in 1434. It is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy and the 29th oldest university in the world...
's department of geological sciences in Sicily, said:
Geologically speaking, it's a possibility, But geology has a very long time scale ... We really should not be too worried.Despite showing signs in both 2000 and 2002, the seismicity did not lead to volcanic eruptions and as of 2006 Ferdinandea's summit remains about 6 metres (19.7 ft) below sea level. Should it reappear, Federico Eichberg, an international relations expert based in Rome, believes it would do so within Italian territorial waters — and in all probability would be formally claimed by Italy. Eichberg does not expect that a renewed international rumpus would arise, noting:
“If it's just a little island, we're not going to have a big fight over it.”Additionally, the island would not have the same strategic importance today that it had in the summer of 1831. A diplomatic disagreement would be highly improbable, and the island would likely belong to Italy. A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
, however, kept all options open. The British government “would look at this if and when any island were to emerge,” she said, adding: “We don't want to make waves now.
Scientific study
Edward Davy
Edward Davy was an English physician, scientist, and inventor who played a prominent role in the development of telegraphy....
and Warington Wilkinson Smyth
Warington Wilkinson Smyth
Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth was a British geologist.-Biography:Smyth was born at Naples, the son of Admiral W. H. Smyth and his wife Annarella Warington. His father was engaged in the Admiralty Survey of the Mediterranean at the time of his birth. Smyth was educated at Westminster and...
. Among the French was Constant Prévost
Constant Prévost
Louis-Constant Prévost was a French geologist.He was the son of the tax farmer Louis Prévost, receiver of the rentes of Paris...
. Among the Italians there was Scinà Domenico (1765-1837) who published his observations in the "Effeméridi Sicilians" (1832- Vol. 2), and Carlo Gemmellaro (1787–1866), teacher of geology and mineralogy at Catania University, who published "Actions of the Gioenia Academy of Catania" (1831- Vol.8).
In 2006, further study revealed Ferdinandea to be just one part of the larger volcano Empedocles
Empedocles (volcano)
Empedocles is a large underwater volcano located 40 km off the southern coast of Sicily named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles who believed that everything on Earth was made up of the four elements....
.
Marine significance
Ferdinandea is still referenced on marine charts, as its top is only 6 metres short of breaking the surface, much higher than the draftDraft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of most seafaring vessels. It is also a small shoal on which near-surface maritime
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
creatures dwell.
Coinage
In Sicily in 2000 there was produced an unofficial minting of a penny, featuring the island of Ferdinandea on one side and, unusually, a bust of Elizabeth II on the other. (Italy, including Sicily, was using the EuroEuro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
by this time and the coin did not circulate.) The designer of the coin is David Mannucci. The idea to make this coin occurred to Mannucci after he “found out the existence of the ghost island” from a newspaper article. Besides the copper piece, varieties exist in silver, copper “with protective enamel”, and in silver “with protective enamel”. While this Italian-made coin fittingly bears the Italian name for the island, the conflicted piece also features a bust of “Elizabeth II D.G.R.” and bears a British denomination.
In popular culture
During its emergence it was visited by Sir Walter Scott, and it provided inspiration for James Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
's The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak, Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
's The Speronara and Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's Captain Antifer
Captain Antifer
-External links:* available at...
and The Survivors of the Chancellor
The Survivors of the Chancellor
The Survivors of the Chancellor: Diary of J. R. Kazallon, Passenger is an 1875 novel written by Jules Verne about the final voyage of a British sailing ship, the Chancellor, told from the perspective of one of its passengers ....
. It also provided the inspiration for the isle of Leshp in Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Jingo
Jingo (novel)
Jingo is the 21st novel by Terry Pratchett, one of his Discworld series. It was published in 1997. The rising of a previously submerged island and the subconstituent sovereignty dispute were inspired by the real-life island of Ferdinandea.-Plot:...
.
See also
- List of volcanoes in Italy
- Volcanism in Italy
- SeamountSeamountA seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the water's surface , and thus is not an island. These are typically formed from extinct volcanoes, that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from a seafloor of depth. They are defined by oceanographers as...
- Submarine volcanoes
- EmpedoclesEmpedocles (volcano)Empedocles is a large underwater volcano located 40 km off the southern coast of Sicily named after the Greek philosopher Empedocles who believed that everything on Earth was made up of the four elements....