Mediterranean Sea million years ago (mya) in less than two years by the Zanclean flood. Water poured in from the Atlantic Ocean through a newly breached gateway now called the Strait of Gibraltar at an estimated rate of about three orders of magnitude (one thousand times) larger than the current flow of the Amazon River. The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of and the deepest recorded point is in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for . A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of Sicily and the coast of Tunisia divides the
Book of the Consulate of the Sea called " Ordinacions de Ribera", which established norms for policing harbours and coastal waters." The merit of the "Book of the Consulate of the Sea" is that it is the first work to collect the scattered laws and customs of Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Rhodian, Italian, French and Spanish maritime rights"." Until the publication of the " Ordonnance de la Marine " in France in 1681, the "Book of the Consulate of the Sea" was the code of maritime law in force throughout the Mediterranean. In Spain it continued in use until the introduction of the Spanish "Commercial Code." "The Book