Bernie Bamford, a 38-year-old aeronautical engineer from Chester in England caused a stir last week with his claim to have found the fabled lost City of Atlantis. Mr Bamford spotted a grid pattern on the sea bad 620 miles off the coast of Africa.

On Google Maps

The first mention of Atlantis is by Plato in 360 BC. According to Plato, Atlantis was a naval power lying, "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" or the Straights of Gibraltar.

He claimed Atlantis conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa about 9600 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean, "in a single day and night of misfortune."

The legend of Atlantis has grown since then. The Nazis thought Atlanteans were the ancestors of their master race. New Age legend has Atlanteans with psychic powers responsible for building everything from the Pyramids to Stonehenge. Popular culture places Atlantis in another Galaxy.

So, the discovery what looks like a street pattern on the sea bed caused quite a stir. However, there are a few problems with the picture. The first is scale. The area covered by the grid is 20 times as big as Greater London. The second is that the lines do not actually appear on the seabed but are an artifact of the way the map making process.

In a statement Google said:

"It's true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth -- a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species, a fringing coral reef off the coast of Australia, and the remains of an Ancient Roman villa, to name just a few.

"In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artefact of the data collection process.

"Bathymetric (or seafloor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the seafloor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.

So the fabled Lost City of Atlantis Remains lost, who knows it could be in another Galaxy.

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