|
|
|
|
|
RockallRockall is a small, rocky islet 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 between 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, the island has territorial waters and its owner can claim 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone; if not, it is ignored in delineating the boundaries of the economic zones of the disputing states. The origin of the name is debatable but it has been suggested that it derives from the Gaelic "Sgeir 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 . It is about 480 km (300 miles) west of Manish Point, North Uist in Scotland. It is 424 km (265 miles) north-west of Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. The rock is about 25 metres (83 feet) 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. There is no natural source of fresh water. Rockall is also close to the Darwin Mounds, deep-water coral mounds about 185 km (115 miles) north-west of Cape Wrath. Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, states "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf." The Republic of Ireland, Denmark and Iceland all acceded to the convention. The United Kingdom acceded to the convention on 25 July 1997. The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have agreed a delination which ignores Rockall's existence and have granted exploration rights. 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 claim to the island. Irish claims to Rockall Ireland does not have formal claim to Rockall, regarding it as merely an uninhabitable rock without any territorial waters and thus irrelevant when determining the boundaries of the exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Ireland , Iceland and the United Kingdom. More populist claims to the island are based, in part, on the fact that Rockall is 424 km (265 miles) from Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It is 480 km (298 miles) from the Scottish mainland (although it 320 480 km (200 miles) from Saint Kilda. Saint Kilda being 100 miles west of Harris in the Outer Hebrides). According to a Written Parliamentary Answer from the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs on June 14, 1990, an agreement was reached between 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 Rockall Iceland claims continental shelf rights in the Hatton Rockall area. Iceland does not claim the islet itself - its position is the same as is Ireland's: Rockall is a rock, not an island. Danish/Faroese claims to Rockall The Faroe Islands are an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. Since 1948 they have had self-government in almost all matters except defence and foreign affairs. Consequently their interests in Rockall are represented by Denmark. On their behalf, Denmark claims continental shelf rights in the Hatton Rockall area. It does not claim the islet itself - their position is the same as is Ireland's and Iceland's. 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 allegiance. 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 interlude nevertheless marked the longest continuous habitation of the islet, at 42 days. See Also Okinotori-shima, an islet in the China Sea, claimed by Japan as an island and thus sovereign territory with territorial waters but regarded by the Peoples Republic of China as being an insignificant and irrelevant rock. References External links
- 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.
- The conclusion of a famous episode of the 1950s BBC radio series The Goon Show, "Napoleon's Piano", takes place on Rockall. Bluebottle (Spike Milligan) is lowered from "a recording of a helicopter" to salute the Union Jack and claim Rockall as "British". Rockall is shortly thereafter demolished by a nearby rocket-testing range.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|