The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-07-08
ROCKALL The RE-
CLUSE OF THE SEA
OCEAN PARK, ON WHICH THE
rs STEAMER NORGE NET HER
DOOM, RARELY VISITED BY
M AN AND NEVER ROASTED
a HUMAN iNHABiTANT.
Pittsburg Times.l

Pfttsburs Times.]
Rockall, upon which the liner Norge
was wrecked on June IS. over 600 OF
her passengers and crew being drown
led. is a lonely pyramid rock, some 20
feet in height and $50 feet in circum-
ference. rising sheer out of the wild
sA Atlantic waves, about 1S4 miles west
half south from ST. kilda, Hebrides,
200 miles from the nearest point OF
the Scottish mainland and 26O miles
northwest from the nearest point on
tine Irish coast. More exactly, its po-
sition-at least. as nearly as this has
been ascertained-is latitude 81 de-
grees 80 minutes north, longitude u
degrees ~ minutes West. There is
neither soil upon it nor sandy beach
around it. The depth of water close
up to it being 20 or 80 fathoms. A
rock" therefore, it must be called
rather than an island or even an islet
and of all the rocks and islands. great
and small, surrounding the British
shores it is at once the most remote,
the most desolate, the least known
s and in many respects the most re-
markable.
s Not only has it never boosted hu-
man intabitant, 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
landed upon. Only in the finest wealth
er when the almost ceaseless swell of
q the Atlantic has subsidized for an hour
:8or two is it possible to land upon it.
while in winter the ocean waves far
overtop its summit This summit can
s only be reached, even when landing
has been effected, by an ascent on the
northeastern face of the rock, so pre-
cipitousS are its other sides.
Yet, isolated as Rockall is, it forms,
nevertheless, the summit or peak of
. an extensive submarine plateau
known as "Rockall bank" which eX-
tends in a northeasterly and south
westerly direction for about $50 miles,
which has breadth of about 40 miles
n and about half of which is submerged
a depth of less than 100 fathoms.
a Probably within comparatively recent
times Gin the geological sense) the
greater part of this "bank" was ex-
posed as dry land, which disappeared
partly through the action of the sea
waves.
Close to the main rock and with
deep water between them lies dan
gerous reef, exposed at low tide.
knoyvr as Hardwood rock; While a
mile and a half southeast lies another
similar rock, known as Felen's reef.
from "a vessel of that name whose
wreck upon it first made it known.
4 That Rocka1 belongs, politically
speaking, to great Britain, is a 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
Systematically resorted thther to fish.
lYet Roclsall is certainly no part of the
d British isles, speaking strictly and in
s. Photographed sense, for while all
the other islands lying adjacent to
Britain, except the Faeros, lie well
within what is known as the one hun
bred fathom contour line. including
even ST kilda, the nearest land
= Rockall and the bank surrounding ii
are separated from Brltain(if indeed
it ever did so), must have been i'm
renselys remote, even as the geoloGfs'
reckons time
To the mariner Rocllall presents il
self as a serious danger. Neither tbs
main rock nor the surrounding rec.
& has ever been lighted, belled or bouy
ed. and the officials of the Trinity
house regard them as lying outside
their sphere of operations Yet. al
though not in the main line of cross
Atlantic traffic, there can be no doub
that they have frequently proved IA
tai to vessels. There are several &C
tual records of wrecks upon them, thu
earliest being in 1856, and it is prob
able that they are partly accountabl
for some of the disappearances of yes
sells which are reported annually from
the Atlantic. Even in broad daylight
the rock is menace, for, with it
~ steep, tall sides and its pointed tor
q always whitened by the deposits 0
sea birds, it is invariably taken at frs
sight for a ship in full sail.
TVET AN EVTEIn CTnNIC