The following official account of this shoal is copied from the Malta Gazette:–
“Sir.– I have the honor to inform you, that, in compliance with your order of the 18th June last, I have examined the spot where the volcanic island appeared last summer. It has left a dangerous shoal, consisting principally of black sand and stones, with a circular patch of rock in the middle of it, about 42 yards in diameter, on which there are two fathoms of water generally, but on one spot only nine feet. All around the rock there are from 2 1/2 to three fathoms, deepening gradually to five and six fathoms at the average distance of 100 yards from the centre; then more rapidly to 10, 20, 30, 40, &c. fathoms. A small detached rock, with 15 feet water on it, lies 130 yards to the S.W. of the central patch. About 3/4 of a mile N.W. of the centre there is a detached bank, with 23 fathoms on it. All the rock appears to be dark coloured porous lava; and the sand, which is extremely fine in the deepest water, is composed entirely of particles of the same substance. By this the soundings near the shoals may be distinguished, but it should be approached with great caution, as a large extent of deep water discoloured, which lies to the south-west, may be mistaken for it, while the real danger is seldom visible till it is near, being composed of very dark-coloured materials, and it is so steep that the lead cannot be trusted. Its latitude and longitude, as far as my limited means of observation enabled me to decide, are 37° 9' north, and 12° 43' east of Greenwich. In four days, during which the wind was constantly from N.W., currents were perceived from N.W., N., and N.E., the N.W. prevailing, and sometimes running at the rate of a mile an hour. The temperature of the water, on and near the shoal, does not differ from that of the sea at a distance. I have moored in three fathoms water, at the N.W. side of the shoal, a water cask, painted white, with a pole on it, surmounted by a white ball, and at the S.E. side of the shoal, in 31/2 fathoms, a similar cask, painted black, bearing a black ball on a pole. These two buoys are about 120 yards apart.
“To Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir Henry Hotham,
K.C.B. &c. &c. &c.”
Thus has a volcanic eruption become a most formidable danger to our Mediterranean cruisers and trade.
