The record-union., 1898-11-19
BRITAIN's LoNELIEsT ISLE.
and It's Geological Sig
nificance.

Ask your nearest neighbor in what
part of the British possessions Rockall
is situated, and, even though he be a
well-informed man of the world, he is
tolerably certain to reply. ''Rockall?
Never heard of it, Where in the world
is it?" Yet Rockall is practically, if
not in strict scientific sense, a por-
ton of the British Isles themselves, and
the place has a romantic interest which
is all its own. Rockall is a lonely py
ramidal rock, some seventy feet in
hight and 250 feet in circumference,
rising sheer out of the wild Atlantic
waves, about 1S4 miles west -half-south
from ST. Kilda, in. the Outer Hebrides,
29O miles from the nearest point of the
Scottish mainland, and 26O miles north
west from the nearest point on the Irish
coast. More exactly, it's position-at
least, as nearly as this has been ascer-
tained-is latitude 81 degrees 30 min
utes north, longitude 13 degrees AZ
minutes west There is neither soil
upon it nor sandy beach round it, the
depth of water close up to it being
twenty or thirty fathoms. A rock"
therefore, it must be called rather than
an island, or even an islet; and, of all
surrounding our shores, it is at once
the most remote, the most desolate, the
least known, and in many respects the
most remarkable
Not only has it never boasted a hu
man inhabitant, but no holiday tripper
or sportsman has ever desecrated its
shores, and only on one or two occa-
sions is it even known to have been
x7o<75 i,,+ R11ac h
er, when the almost ceaseless swell of
the Atlantic has subsided for an hour
or two, is it possible to land upon it;
while in winter the ocean waves far
overtop it's summit. This summit can
only be reached, even when a landing
has been effected, by an ascent on the
northeastern face of the rock, so pre-
cipitous are it's other sides.
Yet, isolated as Rockall IS. 1t forms,
nevertheless, the summit or peak of an
extensive submarine plateau, known as
..Rockall Bank" which extends in a
northeasterly and westerly direc-
ton for about one. hundred and fifty
miles, which has a breadth of about
forty miles, and about half of which is
submerged to a depth of less than a
hundred fathoms. PROBABLY within
lct4NC1y lCIClll lAli1-o Ill aAS -
logical sense) the greater part Of this
bank" was exposed as dry land, which
disappeared partly through gradual
subsidence and partly through the ac-
ton of the sea waves. Close to the
main rock and with deep water be-
tween them, lies a dangerous reef, ex-
posed at low tide known as HazlewCod
Rock: while mile and a half south
east lies another similar rock known as
Helen's Reef from a vessel of that
name whose wreck upon it first made
il konwn. That Rockall belongs, polit-
ically speaking, to Britain is fact
never likely TO be disputed, for not
only does it lie nearer to the British
Isles than to any other land, but none
except British fishermen have ever Sys-
tematically resorted thither to fish.
Yet Rockall is certainly no part OF
the British Isles, speaking strictly and
in physiographical sense; for, while
all the other islands lying adjacent to
Britain. except the Faroes, lie well
within what is known as the 1O0-fathom
contour line, including even St Kilda,
the nearest land, Rockall and the bank
surrounding it are separated from Bri-
tain by sea giving soundings of from
], 100 to 1,60O fathoms-depths which
are truly oceanic anR which Indicate
that the period when a. dry land COM
munication existed between Rockall