Подводный остров Грэма у Сицилии

Submerged volcanic island south of Sicily

Graham Island (also Graham Bank or Graham Shoal; ; ) is a submarine volcano in the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Sicily that has, on more than one occasion, risen above the surface of the Mediterranean via volcanic action and soon thereafter been washed away. Since 300 BC this cycle of events has occurred four times. The top of the island is presently 6 metres below sea level. The island's most recent "appearance" occurred in July 1831, but then by January 1832 the portion of the island above sea level had been entirely washed away again by the wind and the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. The 1831 version of the island was first visited by the Sicilian customs official Michele Fiorini on 17 July 1831, who planted an oar there to claim the newly emerged island for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. On 2 August 1831 Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, the captain of the first rate Royal Navy ship of the line St Vincent named the island after Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and claimed the island for the United Kingdom. In 1831, during the brief six month lifespan of the island, a four way dispute over the island's sovereignty arose, which was still unresolved when the island again disappeared beneath the waves in early 1832. The island is a part of the underwater volcano Empedocles, south of Sicily, 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. During its brief life in 1831, 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. Several eruptions have been reported since the 17th century AD. The island is located in a volcanic area known as the Campi Flegrei del Mar di Sicilia (Phlegraean Fields of the Sea of Sicily), in between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean Sea. Many submarine volcanoes (seamounts) exist in the region, as well as some volcanic islands such as Pantelleria.

Graham Island's most recent appearance as an island was in July 1831. The first reports of high seismic activity and/or eruptions occurred during a period spanning from 28 June to 10 July 1831. These reports came from the nearby town of Sciacca. Each wanted the island for its useful position in the Mediterranean trade route (to England and France) and its close position to Spain and Italy.

In August 1831, the volcano had risen above sea level. Although still only a couple of rocks, the Royal Navy thought it was very suitable as a base to control the traffic in the Mediterranean, as it was closer to the European continent than the island of Malta, a Crown Colony. None of these ideas came to fruition, however, as the island soon sank back beneath the waters. By 17 December 1831, officials reported no trace of it. As dynamically as the seamount appeared, it disappeared, defusing the conflict with it.

After 1863, the volcano lay dormant for many decades, its summit just 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. In November 2002 the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome observed minor seismic activity and gas emissions.

To forestall a renewal of the sovereignty disputes, in November 2000 Italian divers planted a Sicilian flag on the top of the volcano in advance of its expected resurfacing.

The sudden geologic phenomenon was observed and studied by numerous scientists. Among the Germans were Hoffmann, Schultz, and Philippi. Among the English were Edward Davy and Warington Wilkinson Smyth. Among the French was Constant Prévost. Among the Italians there was Scinà Domenico (1765–1837) who published his observations in the "Effeméridi Sicilians" (1832, vol. 2), and Carlo Gemmellaro (1787–1866), teacher of geology and mineralogy at Catania University, who published "Actions of the Gioenia Academy of Catania" (1831, vol.8). and some have argued the smaller activity at Graham was the likely culprit. Whatever caused the 1831 discoloration is historically significant in the United States, because Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher in Southampton County, Virginia, took the bluish green sun as a divine sign to begin what became known as Nat Turner's slave rebellion, which ended with the deaths of more than 200 people and led to new laws across the South further restricting the liberties of slaves, including banning their education and limiting their religious freedom.

A number of Cinderella stamps and art coins have been issued over the years, under fictional names such as Poste Isola Ferdinandea. In 2000, an unofficial minting of a penny was produced by a Sicilian artist, featuring the former island on one side and, unusually, a bust of Elizabeth II on the other. David Mannucci, the designer of the coin, had the idea to produce it after he "found out the existence of the ghost island" from a newspaper article. Besides the copper piece, he minted varieties in silver, copper "with protective enamel", and in silver "with protective enamel". While this Italian made coin fittingly bears the Italian name for the former island, the art coin also features a bust of "Elizabeth II D. G. R." and bears a British denomination.

During its emergence it was visited by Sir Walter Scott, and it provided inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak, Alexandre Dumas, père's The Speronara, Jules Verne's Captain Antifer and The Survivors of the Chancellor and Terry Pratchett's Jingo. The island was also the subject of an episode of Citation Needed, a panel show made and hosted by British content creator Tom Scott.