Originally published in Pearson's Weekly (C. Arthur Pearson Ltd.) vol.2 #54 (01 Aug 1891).
The city authorities of Rovigno, on the peninsula of Istria, in the Adriatic Sea, have discovered a little south of the peninsula the ruins of a large town at the bottom of the sea. It has been observed for some years that fishermen's nets were sometimes entangled in what appeared to be masses of masonry, of which fragments were brought up from the sea bed.
The city authorities recently decided to investigate. They sent down a diver, who, at the depth of eighty-five feet, found himself surrounded on the bottom of the sea by ruined walls. He says he knows they were the work of men. He is a builder by trade, and he recognised the layers of mortar.
Continuing his explorations, he traced the line of walls and was able to distinguish how the streets were laid out. He did not see any doors or window openings, for they were hidden by masses of seaweed and incrustations, He traced the masonry for a distances of a hundred feet, where he had to stop, as his diving cord did not permit him to go farther. He had proved beyond a doubt that he had found the ruins of a once inhabited town, which, through some catastrophe, had been sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Some people think that they identify this lost town with the island mentioned by Pliny the Elder under the name of Cassa, near Istria. This island cannot be found now, and it is thought the submerged town may have been a settlement of the island that so mysteriously disappeared.