Naval officers and foreign ministers alike took an absorbing interest in this new island. The strong national thirst for territory manifested itself and eager mariners waited only till the new land should be cool enough to set foot on to strive who should be first to plant there his country’s flag. Names in abundance were given it by successive observers,—Nerita, Sciacca, Fernandina, Julia, Hotham, Corrao, and Graham. The last holds good in English speech, and as Graham’s Island it is known in books to-day, though the sea took back what it had given, leaving but a shoal of cinders and sand.
The Bay of Santorin, in the island of that name, which lies immediately to the north of Crete, has long been noted for its submarine volcanoes. According to one account, indeed, the whole island was at a remote period raised from the bottom of the sea; but this is questionable. It is, with more reason, supposed that the bay is the site of an ancient crater, which was situated on the summit of a volcanic cone that subsequently fell in. Certain it is that islands have from time to time been thrown up by volcanic forces from the bottom of the sea within this bay, and that some of them have remained, while others have sunk again.
HOW AN ISLAND GREW
Of the existing islands, some were thrown up shortly before the beginning of the Christian era; in particular, one called the Great Cammeni, which, however, received a considerable accession to its size by a fresh eruption in A. D. 726. The islet nearest Santorin was raised in 1573, and was named the Little Cammeni; and in 1707 there was added, between the other two, a third, which is now called the Black Island. This made its appearance above water on the 23rd of May, 1707, and was first mistaken for a wreck; but some sailors, who landed on it, found it to be a mass of rock; consisting of a very white soft stone, to which were adhering quantities of fresh oysters. While they were collecting these, a violent shaking of the ground scared them away.
During several weeks the island gradually increased in volume; but in July, at a distance of about sixty paces from the new islet, there was thrown up a chain of black calcined rocks, followed by volumes of thick black smoke, having a sulphurous smell. A few days thereafter the water all around the spot became hot, and many dead fishes were thrown up. Then, with loud subterraneous noises, flames arose, and fresh quantities of stones and other substances were ejected, until the chain of black rocks became united to the first islet that had appeared. This eruption continued for a long time, there being thrown out quantities of ashes and pumice, which covered the island of Santorin and the surface of the sea—some being drifted to the coasts of Asia Minor and the Dardanelles. The activity of this miniature volcano was prolonged, with greater or less energy, for about ten years.
In 1866 similar phenomena took place in the Bay of Santorin, beginning with underground sounds and slight shocks of earthquake, which were followed by the appearance of flames on the surface of the sea. Soon after there arose, out of a dense smoke, a small islet, which gradually increased until in a week’s time it was 60 feet high, 200 long and 90 wide. The people of Santorin named it “George,” in honor of the King of Greece. In another week it joined and became continuous with the Little Cammeni. The detonations increased in loudness, and large quantities of incandescent stones were thrown up from the crater.
About the same time, at the distance of nearly 150 feet from the coast, to the westward of a point called Cape Phlego, there rose from the sea another island, to which was given the name of Aphroessa. It sank and reappeared several times before it established itself above water. The detonations and ejection of incandescent lava and stones continued at intervals during three weeks. From the crater of the islet George, which attained a height of 150 feet, some stones several cubic yards in bulk were projected to a great distance. One of them falling on board of a merchant vessel, killed the captain and set fire to the ship.
By the 10th of March the eruptions had partially subsided, but were then renewed, and a third island, which was named Reka, rose alongside of Aphroessa. They were at first separated by a channel sixty feet deep; but in three days this was filled up, and the two islets became united.
Reference may properly be made here to Monte Nuovo and Jorullo, not that they appertain to the present subject, but that they form examples of the action of similar forces, in the one instance exerted on a lake bottom, in the other on dry land, each yielding permanent volcanic elevations in every respect analogous to those which rise as islands from the bottom of the sea.
IN THE ICELANDIC SEAS