Approx. 83°W, 37°S (southwest of Robinson Crusoe Island), noted as “position doubtful” in Operational Navigation Chart[7] of the United States Department of Defense.
To the west of the Hawaiian Islands, Schjetman Reef was originally found in 1868 to be an island 1.5 nautical miles long and 0.5 nautical miles wide. Later searches in 1880, 1923, and 1924 could not find the island.
Saxemberg was a phantom island believed to have existed in the South Atlantic. It appeared intermittently on charts between the 17th and the 19th centuries.
Saxemberg was reportedly discovered by Dutch seafarer John Lindestz Lindeman in 1670. Lindeman reported the island’s coordinates as 30°45′S 19°40′WCoordinates: 30°45′S 19°40′W.[1][2] Lindeman made a sketch which depicted the island as being low lying, but with a somewhat pointed mountain in the middle. Other sketches, of unidentified authorship, presented a more detailed view of Saxemberg. Major General Alexander Beatson, a resident of St. Helena, reported that he had drawings of the island depicting different forms of plant life.[3] Another resident of St Helena, James Wathen, wrote a book where he surmised that Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, Gough and Saxemberg constituted an island chain extending 1800 miles in length and 500 miles in breadth.[4]
Despite Lindeman’s original report, many sailors were apparently unable to locate the island at the coordinates provided by the Dutchman. There appears to have been some skepticism about the existence of Saxemberg, and the island was not always depicted on charts. The next reported sighting of Saxemberg was made in 1804, when Captain Galloway of the American ship Fanny reported seeing the island and keeping it in view for four hours. Galloway observed that the island did indeed have the peak in the middle, as reported by Lindeman. In 1816, Captain Head of the True Briton found the island and kept it in view for six hours. His account corroborated Galloway’s.
The British explorer Matthew Flinders, known for his explorations of Australia, attempted to find Saxemberg during his cruise on the ship Investigator, in September 1801.[1][2] Flinders concluded in his book, A Voyage to Terra Australis, that he did not believe Saxemberg existed at all. However, he noted sometime later that he met the Earl of Caledon in 1810, who showed Flinders a log extract from Captain Long of the sloop Columbus. The log, dated 22 September 1809 noted:[5]
Five p.m., saw the island of Saxonburg (Saxemberg), bearing E. S. E., first about 41 leagues distant: clear weather. Steered for the said island, and found it to be in the latitude of 30° 18′ south, longitude 28° 20′ west, or thereabout.
The island of Saxonburg is about four leagues in length, N. W. and S. E., and about 2½ miles in breadth. The N. W. end is a high bluff of about 70 feet, perpendicular form, and runs along to the south-east about 8 miles. You will see trees at about a mile and a half distance, and a sandy beach.
The situation of Saxemberg in the common tables and charts, was 30° 45′ south and 19° 40′ west, almost 9° of longitude too little; and therefore it is not surprising that ships have missed it. At the time so many birds were seen, on the 28th, the Investigator was not more than eighty miles from the position of the island, as above given from Mr. Long.
None of the captains who reported seeing Saxemberg actually landed.
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 Antillia, was purportedly full of evil demons but was sometimes called Salvaga to avoid using the profanity “devil”.
Sarah Ann Island (also spelled Sarah Anne) is a vanished island, previously located at 4°0′N 154°22′WCoordinates: 4°0′N 154°22′W[1] (though sometimes listed at about 175° W[2]). It was discovered in 1858 and claimed by an American guano firm, under the Guano Islands Act (as Sarah Anne).
A search in 1932 by German astronomers was unsuccessful.[4] In 1937, the United States Pacific Fleet attempted to locate the island, intending to establish an observatory there to view the solar eclipse of June 8, 1937, but was also unsuccessful. The island, which was observed 15 years before, was nowhere to be found. Instead, observations were made on the nearby Canton and Enderbury Islands and Sarah Ann was quietly removed from Naval charts and has become a phantom island.
One explanation is that Sarah Ann Island was identical to Malden Island, but due to a clerical error it was listed at 4° N instead of 4° S.
An island near the De Long Islands, north of Russia, that probably did exist but was destroyed due to coastal erosion.
Another phantom, small island to the west of New Caledonia 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 from a recent nearby seamount eruption.
A magnetic, black island at the exact Magnetic north, invented as an explanation for why all compasses point north.
A small island to the west of the mythical Antillia (see Antillia above).
A fictional island widely believed during the 19th century to be to the southwest of Tasmania. While not found by numerous expeditions in 1840, 1889, 1902, 1909, and 1912, the island was not officially removed from nautical charts until 1904.