The Strait of Bonifacio (Corsican: Bucchi di Bunifaziu, French: Bouches de Bonifacio, Gallurese: Bocchi di Bunifaciu, Italian: Bocche di Bonifacio) is the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, named after the Corsican town Bonifacio. It is 11 km (6.8 mi) wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea. The strait is notorious among sailors for its weather, currents, shoals, and other obstacles.
The most famous disaster in the Strait of Bonifacio was that of the French frigate Sémillante on February 15, 1855. Sémillante had left the port of Toulon the day before on its way into the Black Sea to supply the Crimean War with troops. A storm caused it to hit a reef; the ship sank and none of the 750 soldiers on board survived.
After a tanker disaster in 1993, the passage through the Strait of Bonifacio has been prohibited for only French and Italian flag ships with dangerous goods.
Its maximum depth is 100 metres (330 ft).
Famous quotes containing the word strait:
“We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” He said, “I ‘xpect we take in some water there, river so high,—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water there, but short; swamp steamboat once. Don’t paddle till I tell you, then you paddle right along.” It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted “paddle,” and we shot through without taking in a drop.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)