A phantom island is a purported

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigational errors, mistaken observations, unverified misinformation, or deliberate fabrication. Some have remained on maps for centuries before being "un-discovered." Unlike lost lands, which are claimed (or known) to have once existed but to have been swallowed by the sea or otherwise destroyed, a phantom island is one that is claimed to exist contemporaneously, but later found not to have existed in the first place (or found not to be an island, as with the

Island of California The Island of California ( es, Isla de California) refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that the Baja California Peninsula was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island (spelled on ea ...

Examples

Some may have been purely mythical, such as the Isle of Demons near

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, which may have been based on local legends of a haunted island. The far-northern island of

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...

was reported to exist by 4th century BCE Greek explorer

Pytheas Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéas ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greek geographer, explorer and astronomer from the Greek colony ...

, but information about its purported location was lost; explorers and geographers since have speculated that it was the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

, or possibly nonexistent. The island of

Hy-Brasil Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil and several other variants, is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Irish myths described it as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it becomes visible but ...

was sometimes depicted on maps west of Ireland, but all accounts of it have been fanciful. Some phantom islands arose through the faulty positioning of actual islands, or other geographical errors.

Pepys Island Pepys Island is a phantom island, once said to lie about north of the Falkland Islands at 47°S.James BurneyA Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea Or Pacific Ocean accessed 25 July 2010 Pepys Island is now believed to have ...

was a misidentification of the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

. The Baja California Peninsula and the

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest cit ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

each appear as islands on some early maps, but were later discovered to be attached to their mainlands. Isle Phelipeaux, an apparent duplication of

Isle Royale Isle Royale National Park is an American national park consisting of Isle Royale – known as Minong to the native Ojibwe – along with more than 400 small adjacent islands and the surrounding waters of Lake Superior, in the state of Michigan. ...

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

, appeared on explorers' maps for many years, and even served as a landmark for the border between the United States and the territory that would become Canada, before subsequent exploration by surveyors determined that it did not exist. Sandy Island appeared on maps of the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

beginning in the late 19th century, between the

Chesterfield Islands The Chesterfield Islands (''îles Chesterfield'' in French) are a French archipelago of New Caledonia located in the Coral Sea, northwest of Grande Terre, the main island of New Caledonia. The archipelago is 120 km long and 70 km ...

and Nereus Reef near

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, but was "undiscovered" in the 1970s. Nonetheless, it continued to be included in mapping data sets into the early 21st century, until its non-existence was re-confirmed in 2012. Other phantom islands are misidentifications of breakers, icebergs, fog banks,

pumice raft A pumice raft is a floating raft of pumice created by some eruptions of submarine volcanoes or coastal subaerial volcanoes. Biologists suggest that animals and plants have migrated from island to island on pumice rafts. Pumice rafts have uniqu ...

s from underwater volcanoes, or optical illusions. Observed in the

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha ...

in 1823 but never again seen,

New South Greenland New South Greenland, sometimes known as Morrell's Land, was an appearance of land recorded by the American captain Benjamin Morrell of the schooner ''Wasp'' in , during a sealing and exploration voyage in the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica. Mo ...

may have been the result of a superior mirage. Some such as Thompson Island or Bermeja may have been actual islands subsequently destroyed by volcanic explosions, earthquakes, submarine landslides, or low-lying lands such as

sand bank In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. I ...

s that are no longer above water.

Pactolus Bank Pactolus Bank (or Burnham Bank) is (or was) a seamount in the Southern Ocean, west of Cape Horn. It was discovered by Captain W.D. Burnham of the American ship ''Pactolus'' on November 6, 1885. The bank has been proposed as a possible location fo ...

, visited by

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

in 1578, may fit into this former sand bank category. In some cases, cartographers intentionally include invented geographic features in their maps, either for fraudulent purposes or to identify plagiarists. Overview of the phantom islands

List of phantom islands

}) lying in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

around 80°00´N 10°00´W between NE Greenland and Svalbard. This elusive land was allegedly seen as well by

Lauge Koch Lauge Koch (5 July 1892 – 5 June 1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer. Biography Lauge Koch was born in 1892 to Karl and Elisabeth Koch. His development as a scientist was greatly influenced by his father's second cousin Johan P ...

from the air in 1933. , - ,

Filippo Reef Filippo Reef is a reef that is asserted to be in the Pacific Ocean at , east of Starbuck Island in the Line Islands. The reef was reported by the master of the Italian barque '' Filippo'' as having been seen on 28 June 1886. From an unidentifie ...

, , 1886 , , This reef, part of the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

, was first seen by the ship ''Filippo'' and was seen again in 1926 when both ships saw breakers in the same area, suggesting a depth of . Current observations show the reported location to have a depth of , and the nearest shallow seamount is about deep, disproving the existence of the island. , - ,

Frisland Frisland, also called Frischlant, Friesland, Frislanda, Frislandia, or Fixland, is a phantom island that appeared on virtually all of the maps of the North Atlantic from the 1560s through the 1660s. History Frisland appears to have bee ...

, , 1558 , , Another island on the

Zeno map Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...

, possibly a renamed

. , - ,

Ganges Island Ganges Island, a phantom island known as in Japanese, appeared at on maps of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reports of its disappearance appeared in 1933.Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to the southwest of the

Shatsky Rise The Shatsky Rise is Earth's third largest oceanic plateau, (after Ontong Java and Kerguelen) located in the north-west Pacific Ocean east of Japan. It is one of a series of Pacific Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIPs) together with Hess R ...

. , - ,

Groclant Groclant is the name of a phantom island generally shown off the western side of Greenland, first appearing on maps in the late 16th century. The name of the island may be an errant reading of Greenland. One of the first maps to show Groclant was ...

, , 1569 , , An island to the west of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, perhaps a misreading of the island's name, or

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...

. , - ,

Ilha de Vera Cruz Ilha de Vera Cruz (, ) ( Portuguese for ''Island of the True Cross'') was the first name given by the Portuguese navigators to the on the northeast coast of what later became Brazil. The name was later changed to Terra de Santa Cruz (''Land of th ...

, , 1500 , , A supposed 'island' found by Portuguese explorers, which turned out not to be an island but rather what is currently known as

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. , - , Jacquet Island , , , , An island just to the east of the

Flemish Cap The Flemish Cap is an area of shallow waters in the north Atlantic Ocean centered roughly at 47° north, 45° west or about 563 km (350 miles) east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The shallow water is caused by a wide underwater ...

; it was believed to exist into the 19th century, during which cartographers discussed it as a possible midway point for the

Transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is now an obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and data a ...

. , - , Juan de Lisboa , , , , Reported on maps as being southeast of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. , - ,

Jupiter Reef Jupiter Reef or Jupiter Breakers is a supposed reef in the South Pacific (south of French Tuamotu islands and east of New Zealand), between other supposed reefs, Maria Theresa Reef to the south and Ernest Legouve Reef to the north; it appears to ...

, , 1878 , , Nonexistent reef in the Line Islands (in fact

are more than away), to the south of the also nonexistent

Ernest Legouve Reef The Ernest Legouve Reef is a phantom reef supposed to be located in the South Pacific, south of French Tuamotu Islands and east of New Zealand. Krauth reports that it is situated at . According to a statement of the International Hydrographic Bu ...

(see above). , - , Kantia , , 1884 , , Found in 1884 by Johan Otto Polter, who, in four later expeditions through 1909, disproved the island's existence. , - , Kianida Island
or ''Cianeis Insula'' , , 1467 , , Supposedly known in Antiquity, a large island the size of

Thassos Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate re ...

but situated off the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

in the present Bulgaria-Turkey border area. Depicted on the 1467 map ''Nona Europae Tabula'' by

Nicolaus Germanus Nicolaus Germanus () was a German cartographer who modernized Ptolemy's ''Geography'' by applying new projections, adding additional maps, and contributing other innovations that were influential in the development of Renaissance cartography. N ...

based on

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

. According to Bulgarian geomorphologist Dinyo Kanev, probably destroyed by sea in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. , - , Krusenstern Rock , 1804 , Reported as a breaker at 22° 15' N, 175° 37' W. Capt. R. Suffern of the ''Craigerne'' reported that he was at these exact coordinated in 1897 but there was no sign of the rock. , - ,

Los Jardines Los Jardines or Los Buenos Jardines (Spanish for "the good gardens") are phantom islands supposedly located northeast of the Mariana Islands. The islands were reportedly visited by Spanish explorers Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón (who named them ...

, , 1528 , , A pair of phantom islands to the east of the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...

. , - , Isle of Mam , , 1367 , , A crescent-shaped island in the North Atlantic that does not appear to exist; however, there is a crescent-shaped group of seamounts deep near its described location. , - , María de Lajara or Maria Laxar , , , , Usually located northeast from Hawaii, but perhaps originally one of the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

. , - ,

Maria Theresa Reef The Maria Theresa Reef is a supposed reef in the South Pacific (south of the French Tuamotu islands and east of New Zealand); it appears to be a phantom reef. It is also known as Tabor Island or Tabor Reef on French maps. Reports Bernhard Kraut ...

(aka Tabor Island or Tabor Reef) , , 1843 , , Another nonexistent reef in the Line Islands (in fact

are more than away), slightly to the southwest-west of the phantom island,

. It is a setting for Jules Verne's book ''

In Search of the Castaways ''In Search of the Castaways'' (french: Les Enfants du capitaine Grant, lit=The Children of Captain Grant) is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of ill ...

''. , - , Minnehaha Rock , 1879 , Sighted by Capt. Beckwith of the ''Victoria'' at 25° 50' S, 106° 20' W. No subsequent sightings have been made. , - , St. Matthew Island , , 1516 , , An island near the coast of Africa, roughly east-northeast of Ascension Island and possibly confused with the same latitude

Annobón Island Annobón ( es, Provincia de Annobón; pt, Ano-Bom), and formerly as ''Anno Bom'' and ''Annabona'', is a province (smallest province in both area and population) of Equatorial Guinea consisting of the island of Annobón, formerly also Pigalu an ...

. , - ,

Mount Penglai Penglai () is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai.McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. Press, 1990. . Location According to the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas' ...

, , Antiquity , , An island thirty-thousand leagues to the east off the coast of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

. Associated with numerous East Asian myths and legends. , - ,

, , 1823 , , Unknown odd island near Antarctica, which captain

Benjamin Morrell Benjamin Morrell (July 5, 1795 – 1838 or 1839?) was an American sea captain, explorer and trader who made a number of voyages, mainly to the Atlantic, the Southern Ocean and the Pacific Islands. In a ghost-written memoir, ''A Narrative of Four ...

of the ship Wasp saw while traveling north from Antarctica. He thought it to be the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

(then called New South Greenland), but his reported location during the voyage, while perfectly copying the expected path for traveling up the peninsula, was over to the east and to the north of the actual position of the Antarctic Peninsula, suggesting either a huge miscalculation in location or sightings of icebergs and fog, typical of phantom islands in the Antarctic Circle. , - ,

Nimrod Islands The Nimrod Islands were a group of islands first reported in 1828 by Captain Eilbeck of the ship ''Nimrod'' while sailing from Port Jackson around Cape Horn. Their reported location was east of Emerald Island and west of Dougherty Island, at app ...

, , 1828 , , A group of islands between Emerald Island and

Dougherty Island Dougherty is the name of a phantom island that was believed to be located in the extreme south of the Pacific Ocean, roughly halfway between Cape Horn and New Zealand. It is named for Captain Dougherty of the ''James Stewart'', an English whaler, ...

, both of which are nonexistent. Probably a group of icebergs together. , - ,

, , 1885 , , An oceanic bank deep off the west coast of

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

, suggested as the remains of Elizabeth Island. A 1956 search of the area turned up no shallow areas in the reported location. , - ,

, , 1683 , , In 1683,

Ambrose Cowley William Ambrosia Cowley was a 17th-century English people, English buccaneer who surveyed the Galápagos Islands during his circumnavigation of the world while serving under several Captains such as John Eaton (pirate), John Eaton, John Cook (pir ...

reported an unknown island where he thought the Falklands were, but his location was 4 degrees to the north of the Falkland Islands. While it is possible that he made a mistake in seeing a nonexistent island, it is more likely he saw one of the Falkland Islands and made a 4-degree error in his location. , - , Petermannland , , , , North of

Franz Josef Land , native_name = , image_name = Map of Franz Josef Land-en.svg , image_caption = Map of Franz Josef Land , image_size = , map_image = Franz Josef Land location-en.svg , map_caption = Location of Franz Josef ...

, named after August Heinrich Petermann. , - , Isle Phelipeaux , , 1744 , , A nonexistent island in

referenced in the 1783

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

. , - , Podesta , , 1879 , , An island to the west of El Quisco, Chile, that was discovered to be fake in 1935 and promptly removed. Other phantom islands were also found in the vicinity in 1912 and 1858 (see

Sarah Ann Island Sarah Ann Island (also spelled Sarah Anne) is a vanished island, previously located at (though sometimes listed at about 175° W). It was supposedly discovered in 1858 by Captain William W. Taylor and reported to the U.S. State Department on Feb ...

). , - , Rivadeneyra Shoal , , 1842 , , A shoal in the eastern Pacific Ocean. , - ,

Royal Company's Islands The Royal Company's Islands are a group of phantom islands reported by some early explorers to lie southwest of Tasmania. They were first heard of before 1840, but the original report cannot be traced. Many old charts show them at or . The isl ...

, , , , A fictional island widely believed during the 19th century to be to the southwest of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. While not found by numerous expeditions in 1840, 1889, 1902, 1909, and 1912, the island was not officially removed from nautical charts until 1904. , - ,

Royllo Royllo (also Roillo), is a legendary phantom island that was once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean. It is probably identical with the island originally called Ymana in a 1424 nautical chart of Zuane Pizzigano. The island is usually dep ...

, , 1424 , , A small island to the west of the mythical

Antillia Antillia (or Antilia) is a phantom island that was reputed, during the 15th-century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain. The island also went by the name of Isle of Seven Cities (''Ilha das S ...

(see Antillia above). , - ,

Rupes Nigra Rupes (plural ) is the Latin word for 'cliff'. It is used in planetary geology to refer to escarpments on other worlds. , the IAU has named 62 such features in the Solar System, on Mercury (17), Venus (7), the Moon (8), Mars (23), the asteroids ...

, , , , A magnetic, black island at the exact

Magnetic North Pole The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...

, invented as an explanation for why all compasses point north. , - , Sandy Island , , 1774 , , Another phantom, small island to the west of

that was recorded on many maps until 2012, when a surveying ship passed by and disproved its existence. The current leading explanation is that the island was a raft of buoyant

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...

from a recent nearby seamount eruption. , - ,

Sannikov Land Sannikov Land (russian: Земля Санникова) was a phantom island in the Arctic Ocean. Its supposed existence became something of a myth in 19th-century Russia. History Yakov Sannikov and Matvei Gedenschtrom claimed to have seen the ...

, , 1809 , , An island near the

De Long Islands The De Long Islands ( rus, Острова Де-Лонга, r=Ostrova De-Longa; sah, Де Лоҥ Aрыылара, translit=De Loñ Arıılara) are an uninhabited archipelago often included as part of the New Siberian Islands, lying north east of ...

, north of Russia, that probably did exist but was destroyed due to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

. , - ,

, , 1858 , , A phantom island near

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, similar to Podesta island. Se
Operational Navigation Chart
of the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

. , - ,

Satanazes The island of Satanazes (also called the Island of Devils, or the Hand of Satan) is a legendary island once thought to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, and depicted on many 15th-century maps. Cartographic depiction In 15th-century portolan ch ...

, , 1424 , , This island was originally noted on maps in 1424, originating from popular legend of devils and demons attacking ships that went into the area, but the island was subsequently removed because it obviously did not exist. The island, often drawn to the north of the mythical

, was purportedly full of evil demons but was sometimes called Salvaga to avoid using the profanity "devil". , - , Saxemberg Island , , 1670 , , An odd island midway between South America and Africa that numerous captains reported seeing in 1804, 1809, and 1816. While most had conflicting reports, all of them found the island in the same location; however, none of them actually made landfall. It is possible the island was volcanic and later erupted and destroyed itself. It is also possible that they were looking at Tristan de Cunha island. , - , Schjetman Reef , , 1868 , , To the west of the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

, Schjetman Reef was originally found in 1868 to be an island long and wide. Later searches in 1880, 1923, and 1924 could not find the island. , - , Sefton Reef , , 1808 , , Approx. 83°W, 37°S (southwest of

Robinson Crusoe Island Robinson Crusoe Island ( es, Isla Róbinson Crusoe, ), formerly known as Más a Tierra (), is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, situated 670 km (362 nmi; 416 mi) west of San Antonio, Chile, in the South Pacific Oc ...

), noted as "position doubtful" in Operational Navigation Chart of the

. , - , Terra Nova Islands , , 1961 , , Thought to lie off Oates Coast, East Antarctica. , - , Thompson Island , , 1825 , , An island in the south Atlantic Ocean discovered by the whaling ship captain George Norris; it has not been seen since 1893. , - ,

, , , , A mythical island in the far north that is mentioned many times in Roman- and Medieval-period works. Current interpretations guess it to be

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, and even

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

. , - ,

Torca Island Torca Island was an inhabited phantom island said to be located in the Indian Ocean, possibly in the East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to ...

, , 1693 , , A mythical island near

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

in the Indonesia purportedly destroyed by a volcanic eruption. , - , Transit Reef , , , , A possible reef in Southern Palau. While this reef probably exists, some maps do not list it as an actual location, and, although the reef doesn't have any land, the native name of the island, Pieraurou, means 'Sandy Navigation Point', implying a sandy island or sand bar. , - ,

Tuanaki Tuanaki or Tuanahe is the name of an anecdotal vanished group of islets, once part of the Cook Islands. It was located south of Rarotonga and within two days sail of Mangaia. In 1916, the Polynesian Society of Honolulu reprinted an account by a sai ...

, , 1842 , , A vanished group of islets in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

at which a sailor allegedly spent 6 days, but a ship traveling in the waters two years later found no island. , - ,

Wachusett Reef Wachusett Reef was a phantom reef in the Antarctic Ocean. Captain Lambert of the ship ''Wachusett'' reported that on June 4, 1899 he passed over a reef which appeared to be of coral formation in approximately latitude . The reef appeared to be ...

, , 1899 , , A nonexistent reef in the Line Islands – in fact

are more than away – along with

, and

. This reef, the largest of the three, was thought to be deep. None of these reefs are currently believed to have actually existed. , - , Yosemite Rock , , 1903 , , Approx. 83°W, 32°S (northwest of

), noted as "Existence doubtful" i
Operational Navigation Chart
of the

. , - , ''(unnamed rock)'' , 1869 , Sighted by the steamer ''Great Pacific'' at 25° 40' S, 85° 0' W. The ''Sumbawa'' passed through the area in 1904 but did not see it. , - , ''(unnamed breakers)'' , 1901 , Reported at 21° 55' N, 176° 05' W. There is no indication of these breakers on modern maps. , -

Examples

List of phantom islands

See also

References

Further reading