Sandy Island, New Caledonia

- 19.218451159.923172Koordinaten: 19 ° 13 ' 6.4 "S, 159 ° 55' 23.4 " E

Ile de Sable ( " island of sand " ) or Sandy Iceland ( Iceland Sable ) on German maps also briefly Sable, is the name for a phantom island in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Caledonia, with a putative size of nearly 120 square kilometers.

The French sailors Joseph Bruny d' Entrecasteaux discovered between June 28 and July 1, 1792 several islands, including one designated as Ile du Sable island. It was an island of the group Récifs - d'Entrecasteaux off the northwest tip of New Caledonia. 1876 ​​sighted the whaling ship a Velocity also known as Sandy Island Iceland ( both as "islands " and breakers ) and taking S19 ° 14 '; E159 ° 56 'and S19 ° 50'; E158 ° 51 '. It was probably at this island by a length displacement of the easternmost islands of Chesterfield Group further to the west. Because of the danger posed by small islands for the shipping, also unconfirmed sightings of islands were recorded on cards often, are so still found on many maps various other phantom islands.

A non-existent island called Ile de Sable or Sandy Iceland is still registered in many atlases, such as the Ile de Sable in some editions of the Times Atlas of the World. The supposed location of the island is roughly equivalent to one of Sichtungsorte the velocity. Also on Google Maps, the island was occasionally noted; Google Earth contrast showed a black spot at the point at which the island has been suggested.

As the source of the existence and location give some atlases, among others, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Researchers at the University of Sydney in 2012 examined thoroughly from the region in which the island was listed, presented there, only water depths of more than 1300 meters determine what sparked international media coverage. As a result, many card manufacturers put out the island from their works. The non-existence had already been established on a non - scientific exploration of the waters in 2000.