Ferdinandea, the island of no one.
The Earth is not immutable. Its appearance constantly changes due to human action, continental drift, landslides, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. And while it may not happen every day, witnessing the birth of an island is more common than we imagine. Numerous islets have appeared around the Azores, Iceland, Alaska, and Santorini in the last three centuries. When this happens, to whom does the previously non-existent territory belong? To the nearest country? To whom spotted it? To whom set foot there first? Of course, many laws exist to resolve such disputes. Still, people do not always accept them peacefully and often engage in protracted wars, mediations, peace treaties and border redefining. But the controversy over the sovereignty of the island that appeared in the Sicilian Channel almost two hundred years ago was settled by the Earth itself.
On 28 June 1831, while sailing south of Sicily, Captain Swimburne, in command of the English ship Rapid, heard a loud roar. The lookout, alerted, scanned the horizon for a gunboat or some other vessel that might have produced the explosion. For miles, there was no one in sight. The sea was calm, and there were no storm clouds on the horizon. The same roar was heard as far as Palermo. But on the mainland, the houses also shook. The next day, at 3.45 pm, there was another powerful earthquake.
On 2 July, fishermen from Sciacca were heading for the Secca del Corallo, in the arm of sea separating Sicily from the island of Pantelleria. A few metres from them, the water began to boil and became turbid and muddy. The gurgling sound could be heard for miles around. Hundreds of fish surfaced, dead.
Anyone passing through the area in those days reported similar incidents. Commander Trifiletti, of the brig Gustavo, spotted a dense column of steam. An accumulation of sediment about eight metres high appeared where there had been nothing but sea before. Flames and lapilli gushed from the hilltop. Captain Giovanni Corrao, in command of a Neapolitan ship, saw a great mass of water rise up and hundreds of floating pumice stones and black slag. The surrounding air stank of sulphur to such an area that the smell was also perceived in Sciacca. The population firstly believed it came from the nearby thermal baths. Then the atmosphere became so impregnated with sulphuric acid that silver and brass objects in the houses turned black. It was a sign of volcanic phenomena. During the night of 10–11 July, another powerful explosion was felt. From a thick blanket of smoke appeared a section of land with a circumference of five kilometres and a height of about sixty metres. **A new island was born.
The German geologist Fridriech Hoffmann, who happened to be in Sicily, was the first to reach the place to carry out surveys. English and Italian scientific expeditions followed on. However, no one managed to land because of the “powerful eruptions whose magnificence cannot be described by words”, as Professor Carlo Gemmellaro of the University of Catania wrote.
If the new geological formation had only been the subject of study and curiosity, something happened on 10 August. The Malta Gazette reported that eight days earlier, the English captain Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, of the vessel St. Vincent, unlike his colleagues before him, saw neither smoke nor lava. Although the sand was still hot, he set foot on the island. He stayed there for a few hours, collected samples, drank a cup of tea and planted his majesty’s flag in the sand, officially taking possession of the new land and naming it Graham Island.
But the Earth is not immutable. Neither are territories and borders. The authorities of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies saw the British initiative as an abuse. Although small, the island could be a strategic landing place for ships crossing the Mediterranean. A week later, King Frederick of Bourbon claimed its territoriality in an official act. What until then had informally been known to the Italians as the Isle of Corrao, took the name “Ferdinandea”. Nevertheless, the British did not retreat. King William’s ships persisted in calling at what they considered their own territory.
Also the French organised an expedition. In September, the brig La Fleche tried to approach the island, but the sea conditions made it impossible. Then two sailors swam to carry out an inspection. Struggling to get to the top of the crater with their ankles in the muddy ground, they found it had become a lake of warm, reddish water. Geologist Constant Prevost and his colleagues surveyed the island and collected samples. At the same time, the painter on board, Edmond Joinville, made several drawings. Then they planted their own flag and named the territory Ile Julia. However, any controversy was destined to disappear very soon.
On 8 December, the brig Achille crew, passing through the stretch of sea where the Ferdinandea had landed six months earlier, noticed that the island had disappeared entirely. The French had already noted the terrain consisted mainly of loose, dusty minerals, easily susceptible to erosion. By the time of their visit, the five-kilometre diameter recorded in July had been reduced to just seven hundred metres.
Today, the highest peak of Ferdinandea lies between six and eight metres below sea level. Nautical charts indicate the formation as Graham’s Bank. Observed from an airplane, it appears as a long, narrow shadow topped by a hill that makes it look like a submarine. And for a Libyan submarine, it was mistaken by a U.S. airforce fighter who bombed it in 1986.
Ferdinandea is no more there, but old rivalries resurface from time to time. In 2000, The Guardian reported studies that suggested that volcanic activity in the area could reappear at any moment. To avoid new disputes, the then-mayor of Sciacca decided to plant the Trinacria flag on the submarine bank, inviting Prince Charles of Bourbon, Ferdinand’s heir, and his wife, Countess Camilla Cruciani, to the ceremony. But on the day of the event, sea conditions made it impossible to complete the operation. A few years later, scuba divers from the local branch of the Italian Naval League in Sciacca placed an inscription that read: ‘This strip of land was and always will be of the Sicilian people’. But the earth is not immutable. And so is the sea bed. The marble slab is no longer there. It is unknown whether it was destroyed by someone, British, Italian or French, by the currents, by an earthquake, or by an underwater volcano that wants to become an island again.
To know more:
- «Banco di Graham — Marina Militare».
- The Guardian. «Bourbons Surface to Retake Island», 13 November 2000.
- Carlo Gemmellaro. Relazione dei fenomeni del nuovo vulcano sorto dal mare fra la costa di Sicilia e l’isola di Pantelleria nel mese di luglio 1831 : letta nella gran sala della R. Università degli Studii in Catania il dì 18 agosto 1831, 1831.
- The Geological Society of London, «From out the azure main».
