Rockall
Rockall is a small, rocky island in the North Atlantic but is probably better known as one of the British Sea Areas named in the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Its status is disputed, being claimed by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Denmark (for the Faroe Islands) and Iceland. By itself, the island does not have much importance, but the seas around it are considered very valuable. Therefore, it is also an important question whether Rockall is considered habitable. If so, its owner can claim 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone; if not, the claim can go no further than Rockall's territorial waters.
The origin of the name is debatable but it has been suggested that it derives from the Gaelic "Sgeir (http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb33.html#sgeir) Rocail (http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb31.html#rocail)" which is often translated as "Roaring Rock" although "rocail" is more usually translated as "tearing" or "ripping" (see link).
Geography
The rock is the summit of an extinct volcano and is located at 57° 35′ 48″ N, 13° 41′ 19″ W, about 480 km (300 miles) west of Manish Point, North Uist in Scotland. The rock is about 83 feet (25 metres) wide at its base and rises sheer to a height of approximately 22 metres (72 feet). It is regularly washed over by large storm waves, particularly in winter. There is a small ledge of 3.5 metres by 1.3 metres (11 feet by 4 feet), known as Hall's Ledge, 4 metres (13 feet) from the summit. The rock's only permanent inhabitants are periwinkles and other marine molluscs. Small numbers of seabirds, mainly Fulmars, Gannets, Kittiwakes, and Guillemots, use the rock for resting in summer, and Gannets and Guillemots occasionally breed successfully if the summer is calm with no storm waves washing over the rock.
Rockall is also close to the Darwin Mounds, deep-water coral mounds about 185 km (115 miles) north-west of Cape Wrath.
History and conflicting claims
British claims to the island
The earliest recorded human landing on the island was in 1810; the next was not until 1888. On 18 September 1955 the island was officially annexed by Britain when Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott RN from HMS Vidal was deposited on the island by a Royal Navy helicopter. He cemented in a brass plaque and hoisted the Union Flag to stake the British claim. On 10 February 1972 the Isle of Rockall Act received Royal Assent to make the island part of Inverness-shire, fully incorporating it into the United Kingdom. A navigational beacon was later installed on the island and Britain declared that no ship would be allowed within a 50-mile radius of the rock.
In 1985 former SAS member and survival expert Tom McLean lived on the island for 40 days to affirm Britain's right to the island.
Irish claims to the island
Ireland's claims to the island is based, in part, on the fact that, in terms of geographical distance, Rockall is closer to the mainland of Ireland than to the mainland of Scotland, but closer to islands off the coast of Scotland than to islands off the coast of Ireland.
According to a Written Parliamentary Answer from the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs on June 14, 1990, an agreement was reached between the the British and Irish governments on delimitation of the continental shelf between the two countries and that this included a line of delimitation across the Rockall Plateau. As a result, a very extensive area under Irish jurisdiction, including part of the Rockall Trough and Plateau, is undisputed by Britain. Ownership of Rockall itself, and the area surrounding it, did not form part of that agreement and was not affected by it. No further negotiations were taking place in relation to the rock at the time.
More recently, on June 11, 2003, the Irish Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources gave a Written Parliamentary Answer, stating that "Ireland claims an extended continental shelf … up to more than 500 nautical miles, particularly in the Hatton–Rockall area." As the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has no mandate regarding issues of delimitation between neighbouring states and cannot consider an area under dispute without the agreement of all the parties concerned, Ireland has participated in informal discussions with Iceland and the Faroe Islands in an attempt to resolve the dispute before making its submission to the Commission, which it hopes to make by 2006.
Icelandic claims to the island
Danish/Faroese claims to the island
Waveland and the Greenpeace occupation
In 1997 the environmentalist organisation Greenpeace occupied the islet for a short time, calling it Waveland, to protest against oil exploration under the authority of the British. Greenpeace declared the island to be a "new Global State", and offered citizenship to anyone willing to take their pledge of allegience. The British Government's response was simply to give them permission to be there, and otherwise ignore them.
The project continued until 1999, when the company sponsoring it collapsed and the experiment ended. This amusing interlude nevertheless marked the longest continuous habitation of the islet, at 42 days.
References
- Birds breeding on Rockall. British Birds 86: 16-17, 320-321 (1993).
- Oral Questions (http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0268/D.0268.197311010090.html) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Dáil Éireann, November 1, 1973
- Written Answer (http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0399/D.0399.199006140027.html) from the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Dáil Éireann, June 14, 1990
- Written Answer (http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0568/D.0568.200306110052.html) from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in the Dáil Éireann, June 11, 2003
External links
- Greenpeace press release (http://www.greenpeace.org/majordomo/index-press-releases/1997/msg00182.html)
- "Official" Waveland site (http://www.waveland.org/)
- The Rockall Times (http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/) Surreal news site with a Rockall theme
- An Irish/Celtic band, "The House Band", has an album called Rockall, named after the place.
- Rockall is also the name of the land where Anthony Swithin's series "The Perilous Quest for Lyonesse" takes place.
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