The sizeable phantom island in the Coral Sea is shown as Sandy Island on Google Earth and Google maps, supposedly midway between Australia and the French-governed New Caledonia.

The Times Atlas of the World appears to identify it as Sable Island and, according to University of Sydney scientist Maria Seton, the weather maps used by the Southern Surveyor, an Australian maritime research vessel, also say it is there.

But when the Southern Surveyor, which was tasked with identifying fragments of the Australian continental crust submerged in the Coral Sea, steamed to where it was supposed to be it was nowhere to be found.

"We wanted to check it out because the navigation charts onboard the ship showed a water depth of 1400m in that area - very deep," Dr Seton said after the 25-day voyage.

"It's on Google Earth and other maps, so we went to check and there was no island.

"We're really puzzled. It's quite bizarre."

-Theaustralian-