Saxemberg Island

Saxemberg is a phantom island said to have existed in the South Atlantic. It appeared from the 17th to the 19th century and over again on different cards.

First Sighting by Lindemann in 1670

Supposedly, the island was sighted in 1670 by the Dutch seafarer John Lindestz Lindeman. Lindeman gave the coordinates of the island with 30 ° 45 ' south latitude and 19 ° 40 ' west longitude. Lindeman made ​​a sketch on, after Saxemberg was mostly flat, with a sharp peak in the middle. Other traditional sketches of unknown authors showed more detailed views of the island. Major General Alexander Beatson, a resident of St. Helena, reported that he possessed drawings of the island, showed the different forms of plant life. Another St Helena residents, James Wathen, wrote a book in which he stated, Ascension Island, the islands of Tristan da Cunha Gough Island and Saxemberg formed a chain of islands, 1800 miles in length and 500 miles in width embrace.

Despite Lindemans report several sailors were not able to locate the island in the coordinates given by the Dutchman. There was apparently an early doubts about the existence of Saxemberg and the island did not appear on all maps on. The next message should have been spotted by the Saxemberg, appeared in 1804, when a certain Captain Galloway reported by the American ship Fanny, he had found the island and they had remained for four hours in his field of vision. Galloway observed that a peak in the middle of the island rise, as reported by Lindeman. 1816 sighted a captain Head of the True Briton the island, which remained in his field of view for six hours. His statements were consistent with those of Galloway.

Re sifting through Flinders 1801

The famous Australian explorer Matthew Flinders tried Saxemberg during his journey to find the ship Investigator in September 1801. Flinders summarized in his work A Voyage to Terra Australis, he did not believe in Saxembergs existence. However, he noted, some time later, that he had in 1810 the Earl of Caledon met who showed him a log extract of a captain of the sloop Long Columbus. The entry from September 1809 was:

" 17 clock, the island of Saxonburg saw ( Saxemberg ) towards east-southeast. First, in 41 marker from Distance: clear weather. Calculated position of said island and found approximately at 30 ° 18 ' south latitude, 28 ° 20 ' west longitude. "

" The island of Saxonburg is about four marker from long, north-west and south-east, and about 2 ½ miles wide. In the northwest, a survey of about 70 feet, rectangular shape, extending about eight miles to the southeast. In one and a half miles away you can see trees and a sandy beach. "

Flinders noted that " the position of Saxemberg on the usual boards and cards with 30 ° 45 ' South and 19 ° 40' West was given about 9 ° length is too short; therefore it is not surprising that ships have missed it. At this time were so many birds to see and on the 28th the Investigator not more than eighty was miles away from the position that Mr. Long had given. "

None of the captains, who claimed to have seen Saxemberg, actually went there on land. It is possible that they were all cloud formations for islands. Either the island has disappeared sometime in the sea or they never existed.