It Came From Beneath The Sea

Alarming events were in store for Sicily at the beginning of the
summer of 1831. On 28 June, small earthquakes rocked the western
end of the island, and these continued occurring day after day. On
4 July, the unpleasant scent of sulfur spread through the town of
Sciacca. On the 13th, the people of St. Domenico spotted smoke from
far offshore. Normally, volcanic activity would be the obvious
culprit, but these black plumes were out on the water. Maybe, the
residents suggested to one another, a boat was on fire. The crew of
a passing ship had other ideas: the captain noted that the water
under the smoke was bubbling vigorously. He was convinced that what
they were dealing with was a sea monster. But a second ship brought
reports of masses of dead fish in the water, entirely undevoured.
This disturbance was, in fact, a volcano erupting from just under
the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. By the 17th of July, a new
island some 25 feet high had appeared off the coast of Sicily. And
that was only the beginning. The volcano went on spewing lava over
the course of the next week until the island was four times its
original height and seven kilometers around, with two peaks and
even two small lakes. The new island lay between Europe and Africa
right where the Mediterranean narrowed, putting it in the middle of
an ongoing flurry of nautical trade and military maneuvers. Several
countries observed simultaneously that the infant rock would likely
prove extremely valuable to whichever country owned it, and at
least three of them raced to claim it. As it turned out, none of
them would succeed.