Mount Etna to widespread reports of up to 15,000 (or even 20,000) human fatalities caused by the lava, contemporaneous accounts written both in Italian and English mention no deaths related to the 1669 eruption (but give very precise figures of the number of buildings destroyed, the area of cultivated land lost, and the economic damage). Therefore, it is uncertain where the enormous number of fatalities can be attributed. One possibility is confusion between this eruption and an earthquake that devastated southeast Sicily (including Catania) 24 years later in 1693. A study on the damage and fatalities caused by eruptions of Etna in
Italian cruiser Etna by four QF 6-inch guns, two on each side amidships. "Etna" was built by the Castellammare shipyard; her keel was laid down on 19 January 1883 and her completed hull was launched on 26 September 1885. After fitting-out work was finished, she was commissioned into the Italian fleet on 3 December 1887. "Etna" served in the "Squadra Permamente" (Permanent Squadron) from her commissioning to 1893 and then served in North and South American waters until the end of 1895. During this period, "Etna" and the protected cruisers and represented Italy at the international naval review in New York, held at