"This mere speck on the surface of the waters": Rockall aka Waveland

• Main Author: Royle, Stephen A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Iceland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/this-mere-speck-on-the-surface-of-the-waters-rockall-aka-waveland(8f7589bb-d753-4ed6-8508-6ffbb8c09d8f).html; https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/12980146/Rockall_Waveland.pdf; http://www.shimajournal.org/previous.html

Rockall is a tiny granite knoll isolated in the stormy waters of the North Atlantic. It is not habitable and has of itself no economic value. However, given its location it has been a prize insofar as at one time it was thought its possession could bring control of an exclusive economic zone. Iceland, Ireland and Denmark laid claim in addition to the UK, which had annexed Rockall in 1955, the last territory to be taken into the British Empire. In 1972 Rockall was declared to be part of Scotland. However the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (1982) now precludes rocks incapable of supporting life to be awarded economic zones. Interest in Rockall then reverted to symbolism especially in its occupation by Greenpeace in 1997 when the global state of Waveland was declared from Rockall’s summit, with Rockall itself as the capital. Greenpeace stayed on Rockall longer than anybody else and a claim has been established to it thereby, but Waveland itself collapsed with the failure of the company that serviced its online presence.