1 THE NEWEST PLACE ON EARTH It was at the beginning of time when nothing was sand was not nor sea nor cool waves Earth did not exist nor heaven on high The mighty gap was but there was no growth This is the place where people go to measure the flowers This is the place where the animals have come one kind at a time a bird a seal a fly And often they have come alone without a mate at intervals over the years This is the place where once upon a time was just forty-nine years ago This is the newest place on earth This is Surtsey island Surtsey came into being a few hours before dawn on Tuesday November 14 1963 It was not a gentle birth It erupted squalling and full of fire from the Atlantic Ocean near Vestmannaeyjar or the Westman Islands south of Iceland
Its beginnings were witnessed by the crew of the Isleifur II an Icelandic fishing vessel casting four miles to the south of the site of the eruption The story of the newest place on earth is one of the oldest It was told in the Norse myths that had described extraordinary events of nature Now the story told long ago was coming true again And for the fishermen of the Isleifur once upon a time was now
