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Strait of Bonifacio

Field	Value
name	Strait of Bonifacio
native_name
image	Santa Teresa Gallura - Bocche di Bonifacio (04).JPG
caption	Strait of Bonifacio
location	Mediterranean Sea
coordinates
type	Strait
basin_countries	France
Italy
date-built
date-flooded
min_width	11 km
max-depth	100 m
cities	Bonifacio
pushpin_map	Mediterranean#France#Italy
pushpin_label_position

Italy | date-built = | date-flooded = | max-depth =100 m

The Strait of Bonifacio (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is the strait which connects the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. It is named after the Corsican town Bonifacio, the most southerly on the island, which was in turn named after Boniface I, Margrave of Tuscany, who founded a citadel in its location circa 828AD.

Location

At its narrowest point, the strait is 11 km wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea. Its maximum depth is 100 m. The Sea of Sardinia and the Gulf of Asinara are located to the west of the Strait.

The strait is notorious among sailors for its weather, currents, shoals, and other obstacles. The strait, while relatively narrow, has no bridge crossing and relies on ferry services.

A traffic separation system is in effect in the strait. Vessels transiting the strait from east to west must report on VHF channels 16 and 10 to the Pertusato control station on the island of Corsica (France). Vessels transiting the strait from west to east must report to the control station on Maddalena Island (Italy).

Disasters

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 her way into the Black Sea to supply the Crimean War with troops. A storm caused her 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 French and Italian flag ships with dangerous goods. Passage for ships with dangerous goods sailing under other flags is strongly discouraged and subject to mandatory piloting.

Gallery

File:Strait of bonifacio2.jpg|Location of the Strait. File:Bouches de Bonifacio.JPG|The Strait as seen from Santa Teresa di Gallura in Sardinia; Corsica is in the background. File:Strait of Bonifacio.jpg|The Strait as seen from the northernmost tip of Sardinia; the southern coast of Corsica is barely visible. File:Scogliere bocche di bonifacio.JPG|The Strait as seen from the Corsican coast. File:Strasse von Bonifacio.jpg|The Strait as seen from the air.

References

(1 March 2021). "Bonifacio.".
"European Space Agency Observing the Earth". European Space Agency.
"International Maritime Organization Marine Environment Protection Committee 61st Session, Agenda Item 9 Annex, page 1". International Maritime Organization.
(11 December 2019). "Where Is The Strait Of Bonifacio?".
"The Strait of Bonifacio: a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA)".
"IMO Resolution A.666(18) Navigation in the Strait of Bonifacio".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

straits-of-the-mediterranean-sea international-straits straits-of-italy straits-of-metropolitan-france landforms-of-corsica landforms-of-sardinia landforms-of-the-tyrrhenian-sea france–italy-border

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