The word for being smitten by islands is "islomania," and from that time on, I had that condition. I haven't spent as much time on islands as I would like, not by a long shot, but I have always enjoyed reading about them. Recently at the Polk Library at the University of Wisconsin -- Oshkosh, I discovered another book similar in theme to Ramsay's, Lost Islands by Henry Stommel. Naturally, I devoured it. Both Ramsay and Stommel refer to an existent North Atlantic islet called Rockall, almost 200 miles west of the Scottish islands of St. Kilda. Very close by to the 70-foot-high Rockall are the much tinier Helen's Reef (almost always just beneath the waterline) and Hasselwood Rock ("just visible above sea level in calm conditions"). There is a picture of Rockall in Ramsay's book that made me want to know more about this remote, desolate bit of land. Here is a more modern color shot:
Since British enthusiasts can always be counted on to pay close attention to minutiae -- it is a persistent national charm -- it is not entirely surprising that there is a whole book on the subject of Rockall, published by James Fisher in 1956. It's almost as obscure a book as Rockall is an island, and I had never seen a copy, but the Appleton Library inter-library loan staff came through for me again by tracking down a copy in the Miami, Florida, public library. I picked it up at the library today and started reading it -- it's just too neat. The pictures are awesome, especially an alarming aerial photograph of a 170-foot wave breaking against Rockall's west side on March 11, 1943:
