Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-05-07
A LONELY ISLAND.
IT IS 4 BRITISH POSSESSION IN THF
 ATLANTIC OCEAN.

Known as Rocka1, and No Human Be-
 Ing Has Ever Landed Upon It-Prob-
 ably the Cause Of Many Disasters-Looks
 Like Ship Under Full Sail.
 Perhaps the 1oneliest island in the Atlantic Ocean is a British possession known on the map as Rockall. Where IS It? Rockall is a lonely pyramidal rock, some 70 feet in height and 250 rect ID circumference, rising sheer out of the wild Atlantic waves, about 184 miles west-half-south from St. Kilda, in the outer Hebrides, 29O miles from the nearest point of the Scottish main land and 260 miles northwest from ths nearest point on the Irish coast.
 More exactly, it's position-at least, as nearly as this has been ascertained -is latitude 57 deg. 30 min. north, longitude 13 deg. 2 min. west. There is neither soil upon 1t nor sandy beach round it, the depth of water close up to it being twenty or thirty fathoms.
 A rock" therefore 1t must be called rather than an island, or even an isIet; and, of all the rocks and islands, great and small, 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 set foot on its shores, and only OF one or two oeea- sions is it even known to have been landed upon. Only in the finest wealth CT is it possible to land upon it; in Winter the ocean waves far overtop its summit. This summit can only be reached, even when a landing has been effected by an ascent on the north eastern face of the rock, so precipItous are it's other sides.
 Close to the main rock, and with deep water between them, lies a dan- gerous reef, exposed at low tide, known as Hazlewood Rock; while a mile and a half southeast lies another similar rock known as Helen's Reef, from a vessel of that name whose wreck upon 1t first made it known.
 To the mariner RockalI presents it. self as a serious danger. Neither the main rock nor the surrounding reef has even been either lighted, belled or buoyed. Yet, though not in the main line of cross-Atlantie traffic, there can be no doubt that they have frequently proved fatal to vessels. There are several actual records of wrecks upon them, the earliest being in 1886, and 1t is probable that they are partly ae- countable for some of the disappear ances of well-found vessels which ars reported annually from the Atlantic. Even in broad daylight the main rock is menace, for. with it's steep, tall sides, and it's pointed top, always whit ened by the deposits of sea birds, it is invariably at first sight taken for a ship in full sail.
 7fr. J. A. Haryie-Brown, an eminent Scattish naturalist; MT. R, M Bar rinston, leading Irish naturalist, and two other gentlemen, undertook not long ago scientific expedition to Rockall, under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy. Twice was the rock approached, but on each occa- sion the swell around il rendered a landing impossible, and the expedition had at last to return. baked of it's main object. Nevertheless it brought back some very interesting results, ob- tained chiefly by dredging on the bank and by observing the birds flying around the rock.
 Ornithologists have long awaited with keenest interest information re- lating to the bird population of the rock, and have imagined it possible breeding place of several interesting sea birds. But the recent expedition, during which 10 fewer than twenty species were observed round the rock, proved that in all probability no spe- cies breeds upon it except the common guillemot.
 Tn many other ways the rock is of much scientific interest, and any yachtsman or others who may hereaf- ter be fortunate enough to effect landing upon Rockall will certainly obtain results of much interest to nat uralistA