page_title: Graham Island (Mediterranean Sea)
section_title: Recent activity
hierarchical_section_title: Graham Island (Mediterranean Sea) / Recent activity
caption_attribution_description: Recupero del "Sarcofago" contenente un sigmografo posizionato sull'Isola sommersa "Ferdinandea", nel 2006. Il recupero è avvenuto il 22.9.2007 da bordo della MV CP 282
context_page_description: Graham Island is a submerged volcanic island in the Mediterranean Sea. It was discovered when it last appeared on 1 August 1831 by Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, the captain of the first rate Royal Navy ship of the line St Vincent and named after Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty. It was claimed by the United Kingdom. It forms part of the underwater volcano Empedocles, 30 km south of Sicily, and which is one of a number of submarine volcanoes known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia. Seamount eruptions have raised it above sea level several times before erosion submerged it again.
  When it 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, 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.
context_section_description: After 1863, the volcano lay dormant for many decades, its summit just 8 m (26 ft) below sea level.
  In 2000, renewed seismic activity around Graham Island led volcanologists 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." Lobbied by fishermen and sailors, Ignazio Cucchiara, the mayor of Sciacca, invited Prince Carlo to attend the ceremony with his wife, The Duchess of Castro Camilla Crociani. 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 (330 lb), 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 twelve pieces, mostly likely by fishing gear but possibly by vandalism.
  In November 2002 the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome observed minor seismic activity and gas emissions.  They put the time of resurfacing at a couple of weeks or months. Italian sailors put an Italian flag on the top of the bank to avoid other nations' claims if the island resurfaced.  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 8 metres (26 ft) below sea level.
caption: A seismograph, placed on the underwater island in 2006, is recovered in 2007
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