My favorite underwater volcano is getting frisky again. Kick’em Jenny, is located off the northern coast of Grenada, in the Lesser Antilles. It rises almost a mile from the ocean floor and is roughly 600 feet below the surface. Recently, the government of Grenada has raised the alert level to orange and has imposed a 5km vessel exclusion zone around the volcano, suggesting an imminent eruption. Operators of boats and ship are advised to stay clear. The volcano is on the shipping route from St Vincent to Grenada. 

Kick ’em Jenny has erupted at least a dozen times since its first recorded eruption in 1939. The last eruption was in 2015. The 1939 eruption caused a 900′ high ash cloud to shot up from the sea’s surface. Most eruptions since then have been much smaller.  Nevertheless, these smaller eruptions can be dangerous as they pump large quantities of volcanic gasses into the water above the volcano, reducing the buoyancy of the sea water, which could cause vessels to sink.  

There have been no documented deaths from Kick ’em Jenny, but the volcano may be implicated in the greatest maritime tragedy to hit Grenada in modern times — the loss of the schooner Island Queen in 1944. As we posted following the last eruption in 2015: 

From the Seismic Research Centre website:  Submarine volcanoes release large quantities of gas bubbles into the water, even in quiet times between eruptions. This can lower the density of the seawater above the vent. This is very dangerous to shipping, because boats entering a zone of lowered water density will lose buoyancy and may sink.

On the 5th August 1944, the wooden schooner Island Queen, with over 60 people on board, disappeared between Grenada and St. Vincent. At the time it was thought that a German or allied submarine had torpedoed the boat. These theories, however, cannot easily explain the total lack of debris after the boat’s disappearance. However, if a boat sinks because of lowered water density everything would sink.

Kick ’em Jenny had, in fact, erupted the year before (1943) and it is highly likely that it was still actively degassing in 1944, without any signs at the sea surface of such activity.

Bathymetry Study of the Kick-‘em-Jenny Volcano

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.