British Oceanographic Data Centre

When they returned home and told the tale, the media jumped on the story, and cartographers everywhere rushed to correct the mistake.

Within days, the British Oceanographic Data Centre issued a rare statement that they were correcting their maps, and Google, Nat Geo, and others removed the phantom item from theirs.

It quickly became subject to fringe conspiracy theories too, but there it was.

Sandy Island had officially been undiscovered.