Lost Islands

The Story of Islands That Have Vanished from Nautical Charts

By: HENRY STOMMEL

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Paperback | 1 August 2017

At a Glance

Paperback
192 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
27.9 x 20.9 x 1.27

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Hundreds of islands that once appeared on nautical charts and general atlases are now known to have vanished—or never even existed. How were they detected in the first place? Henry Stommel, an oceanographer and senior scientist at Massachusetts' Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, chronicles his fascinating research in documenting the false discoveries of these phantom islands.

British and American Hydrographic Offices compiled lists for navigators of reported dangers corresponding to the islands' supposed locations, which formed the basis for Stommel's surveys. These tales, which unfold according to location, blend historical and geographic background with intriguing anecdotal material. They relate how the small land formations came to be charted, who reported them, who eradicated them, and why some of them endured for so long. The chronicle of navigational errors, optical illusions, wishful thinking, and other mishaps is illustrated by scores of black-and-white images, including two 19th-century Admiralty charts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where most of the sightings took place.

About the Author

Henry Stommel (1920–92) was an oceanographer and senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. In addition to his many contributions to the field of physical oceanography, he is credited as the creator of the modern field of dynamical oceanography.

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