يسعدني أن أقدم لكم اليوم الجزيرة التي ينوي هواة اللاسلكي تنظيم بعثة دولية لها في السنة المقبلة
أصعب جزيرة في العالم للنوم عليها
اسم الجزيرة : Rockall
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Rockall is a pretty desolate place, as the pictures below will testify, although it does possess a certain rugged beauty as the picture above shows. It is about 300 miles off the coast of Scotland, measures just 83 feet across, 65 foot high and 100 foot wide, but has proved incredibly controversial over the years.
We've knocked up the map below to show exactly where Rockall is. It also makes it clearer why Ireland and Iceland feel they also have a right to Rockall (and by extension its full fishing grounds and oil and gas-rich beds). Quite why the Danes think they also have a stake is completely beyond us. The other two give some indication of how far it is from anywhere else.
Rockall is stepped in history. In legend, it is the last remnant of Brazil. The Irish reckon it was created from a pebble thrown from the north coast of the emerald isle. What it actually is is an extinct volcano.
It has been used by sailors as a location marker for centuries - see the ancient map pictured below. Unfortunately, it has also be the destroyer of numerous boats which has slammed into it during storms only to come worse off. Below is also the oldest pic we've found of Rockall.
Next to that is a simply terrific photo taken solely for propaganda purposes in 1974, when the British government was in dispute over Rockall's ownership (again) despite having passed the Rockall Act in 1972, formally annexing it to Britain.
In order to spur on the common people were the situation to get out of hand, the Navy shoved a sentry box and two guards on the rock and took this snap. God only knows where the second sentry was supposed to go if it rained. Ah, the grand old days of British lunacy. The picture was only published 10 years later when the dispute started all over again (thanks to the oil/gas thing). The thing on the rock behind them is a beacon.
Most recently, Rockall was in the news (and produced a good number of photos) because Greenpeace landed on it as a protest against the old drilling etc and attempted to claim Rockall as its own property by dint of staying on the rock longer than anyone else in history (42 days).
The capsule that the three protestors lived in is clearly visible in the first picture. The second shows the protest sign they unveiled. Perhaps more clearly than in the other photos, you get a feeling for quite how difficult it is to get on top of Rockall and what little room you have when you're there.
The last two show the sunset and Al and Peter, which, it must be admitted is rather nice. Small consolation probably though because it's bloody freezing and windy and rainy throughout the entire year. And no, we don't know which is Al and which is Peter.
That about covers what history we can show with the pics we have, although we hope to get some more of the Greenpeace protest and hopefully some from when SAS man Tom McLean lived on it to give it valid island status (check out Rockall's history for more info). Here then are three more random pics of the great rock.
السبت 29 نوفمبر 2008, 23:56
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