“From the nature of this island, there being no bond of coherence in its heterogeneous particles, and from the precipitous falling down of its sides by the action of the sea, I am inclined to think, that there is not the stability of permanence in its composition. The insatiable ocean will encroach upon its base; the winds of heaven will scatter the dusty surface to the four cardinal points of the compass; the rain will dissolve the saline bond of union, and the crumbling ruin will gradually sink and extend its base, to a bank barely above the level of the sea. Its loss will not be deplored, for the screaming sea-bird instinctively wheels and directs his flight to a distant part of the ocean, to avoid the dark and desolate spot; and even the inhabitants of the deep seem to avoid the unhallowed shore.”
The following particulars respecting the disappearance of this extraordinary phenomenon, appeared in the Nautical Magazine for April, 1832:–
“On the 16th Nov. the island was seen by the master of a trading vessel, between Malta and Marseilles, at which time it had diminished to within a very few feet above the surface of the water. The same person, returning to Malta from Marseilles, having shaped a course for it from Maritimo, with fine weather, passed within two miles of the place where it had been, without seeing it.
“The master of another of these traders, on the 11th and 12th Dec. observed the sea breaking over the place where it had been, but could not see the island. Bad weather obliged him to bear up for Trapani, where he was informed, by the officer commanding a Sicilian gun-boat, that he had hoisted the Sicilian flag on the low hummock, which still remained on the 1st Dec. and that, having returned to it on the 9th following the whole had disappeared.
“The American brig Flora passed the situation of it on the 19th Dec. being in lat. 37° 9' N. and long. 12° 43' E. at noon of that day. The weather being fine, and the water smooth, an extensive reef was seen, and this vessel passed about half a mile to the northward of it.
“The master of the Lady Emily (the government yacht of Malta) passed the reef on the 9th Jan. and saw the sea breaking on it; and the fishermen of Pantellaria assert that there was then six feet of water on it.
“the French Admiral Hugon searched for it unsuccessfully during a whole day, previous to his arrival at Malta on the 14th Jan.
“Lieutenant Andrew Kennedy, commanding H.M. steam-vessel Hermes, passed it on the 4th and 5th Feb. and found a sensible change in the smoothness of the water when under its lee for a short time, when a heavy cross sea was running, and the wind was strong.”
