Blackrock Island
| Blackrock Irish: An Tor | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 54°4’2"N, 10°19’12"W |
| Grid reference: | F48181559 |
| Highest point: | 269 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | Uninhabited |
Blackrock Island is a rocky island of County Mayo, rising to a height of 230 feet above sea level and lying in the Atlantic Ocean to the north-west of Achill Island, and twelve miles west of Blacksod Bay.[1]
The Black Rock Lighthouse stands on Blackrock Island, built in 1864.
In the local Irish language the rock is known as Tór Mór. It is known as "Black Rock" by Commissioners of Irish Lights.[2]
The island is visible from near the Glosh Tower on the Mullet Peninsula, and, with reference to the other islands in the area, is sometimes described as the "one that looks like a volcano".[3]
A small, rocky islet lies 135 yards to the east, with a length of just 90 yards. There are about five rocky islets, including Fish Rock, Carrickaduff and Carrackabrown, from half a mile to a mile in a generally westwards direction.
Waters around Blackrock Island
The waters around Blackrock Island are noted for large ocean swells and waves,[4] as evidenced by the difficulties faced in relieving the lighthouse keepers and with Rescue 116 helicopter wreckage recovery in 2017.[5] Water depths descend to 130 feet within a thousand yards of the island, with depths of 200 feet and lower more typical towards Achill Island.[6] The Blackrock grounds are popular with sea anglers due to the attracting of larger fish species: blue shark; porbeagle; halibut and bluefin tuna.[7][8][2]
The lighthouse on Blackrock Island was constructed in 1864.[9][10] The tower was built of stone quarried from the rock on which it stands; the keepers' dwelling is contiguous.[11] It is a 50-foot-high round stone tower with lantern and gallery attached to a single storey keeper's house. The lighthouse is painted white. It is one of Ireland's most remote lighthouses and the most westerly lighthouse off the Mayo Coast. Keepers and their families lived on the rock for 29 years, until dwellings were built at Blacksod, on the mainland, and the station made relieving, in 1893.[11]
Accidents and incidents associated with the island
In September 1937 the then lighthouse-keeper, Patrick Monaghan, was swept from the lighthouse by a freak wave. The visit of his descendants to the island is described in the RTÉ Radio 1 documentary Good Day at Blackrock.[12]
On 20 August 1940, a German bomber attacked the SS Macville which was passing close to the island and damaged several lantern panes and the roof.[13][9] A Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor of Kampfgeschwader 40 was claimed to have dropped two SD250 bombs and damaged a freighter southwest of Blacksod (possibly Macville) on this date,[14] with other sources confirming damage (though no confirmed casualties) to Macville.[15][16]
Three lighthouse keepers were stranded on Blackrock Island in the winter of 1942-1943 during 'The Emergency' in the Second World War. Storms were particularly ferocious in this period and the landing stage and associated derricks were destroyed in the gales. The keepers, who normally expected to be supplied every 10 days, and had started with reduced supplies due to being subject to rationing in the emergency, were at points critically low on supplies. Captain John Padden made several resupply attempts at considerable risk and supply baskets were on a few occasions successfully thrown to the island. On 17 February 1943, in a short lull in the weather he was able to relieve Walter Coupe (117 days) and Michael O'Conner (~ 90 days). Jack Scott, the principal keeper, remained to direct recovery operations.[5]
On 14 March 2017 the Irish coast guard Rescue R116 helicopter impacted the island with the wreckage coming to rest in 130 feet of water south-west of the island with four persons lost.
The preliminary report of the Air Accident Investigation Unit had found that (as of March 2017) Blackrock Island had been omitted or had an incorrect and significantly lower height in some terrain and obstacle databases.[17][18]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Blackrock Island) |
References
- ↑ "Le Blackrock Mayo". 24 January 2015. https://www.guide-irlande.com/sites-touristiques/blackrock-mayo/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Walsh, David (1 March 2014). Oileáin – The Irish Islands Guide (2nd ed.). Pesda Press. pp. 229–230. Black Rock — F483-156. ISBN 9781906095376. http://www.oileain.org/index.php/viewdownload-oileain/. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
- ↑ "Blackrock Light, Mayo". 14 April 2012. http://irishlighthouses.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/blackrock-light-mayo.html.
- ↑ Joly, J (1920). Reminiscences and anticipations. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd.. p. 112. OCLC 1052523074. https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesant00jolyiala.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The siege of Blackrock Lighthouse". 2017. http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/89383/the-siege-of-blackrock-lighthouse.
- ↑ "Online chart viewer". Marine Navigation App. http://fishing-app.gpsnauticalcharts.com/i-boating-fishing-web-app/fishing-marine-charts-navigation.html#12/54.0356/-10.3054.
- ↑ "Fishing in Ireland". 2009. http://www.fishinginireland.info/sea/northwest/belmullet.htm.
- ↑ Dunlop, Norman. "A Guide to Sea Angling in the North Western Fisheries Region". p. 38. http://www.fishinginireland.info/publications/ballina/NWRRFBSeaAnglingGuideSpread.pdf.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Tourism / Our Lighthouses / Black Rock (Mayo)". http://www.irishlights.ie/tourism/our-lighthouses/black-rock-(mayo).aspx.
- ↑ Rowlett, Russ: Lighthouses of Western Ireland (Ulster and Connacht) – The Lighthouse Directory (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 5 November 2009)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Long 1993.
- ↑ "Good Day At Blackrock". RTÉ Radio 1. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2011/0613/646705-the-curious-ear-doconone-good-day-at-blackrock/.
- ↑ "Lighting The Emerald Isle: Irish Lighthouses". Lake Effect Living. http://www.lakeeffectliving.com/Feb12/Lighthouses-Ireland.html.
- ↑ Fw 200 Condor Units of World War 2. Osprey Publishing. 16 August 2016. p. 89. ISBN 9781472812674.
- ↑ Second World War Sea War Volume 2: France Falls, Britain Stands Alone: Day-to-Day Naval Actions from April 1940 through September 1940. Bertke Publications. 1 July 2011. ISBN 9781937470005.
- ↑ "General Cargo Ship Macville". http://www.fotoflite.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=NULL&product_id=333903&category_id=2&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=11&vmcchk=1&Itemid=11.
- ↑ Schiller, Robin (14 April 2017). "Island 'obstacle' was not on crew's warning system". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/island-obstacle-was-not-on-crews-warning-system-35622179.html.
- ↑ "Sikorsky S-92A, EI-ICR Black Rock, Co. Mayo, Ireland 14 March 2017 Preliminary Report". AAUI. 13 April 2017. p. 15. http://www.aaiu.ie/sites/default/files/report-attachments/REPORT%202017-006%20PRELIMINARY.pdf.
- Long, Bill (1993). Bright Light, White Water. The Story of Irish Lighthouses and their People. Dublin: New Island Books. ISBN 1-874597-40-5.