Ferdinandea

Ferdinandea is a submerged volcanic island that forms part of the newly discovered underwater volcano Empedocles 30 km south of Sicily. Currently a seamount, eruptions have raised it above sea level several times before erosion has caused it to submerge again. When it last 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, the French geologist Constant Prévost was on hand, accompanied by an artist, to witness it that July; he named it Île Julia, for its July appearance, and reported in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France.