A good 450km west of Scotland lies a tiny yet controversial bit of land. For a place just 25 meters across and 20 meters high, Rockall has generated a hell of a lot of newspaper column space. Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Ireland have all laid claim to Rockall and the surrounding seas - intent on exploitation of the ocean and any oilfields that lie below it. This potential for industrial development has been opposed by Greenpeace, for the good of the environment around Rockall, but also because of the ongoing dependency on fossil fuels and the threats laid down by ongoing climate change.
On June 15th, 1997, three Greenpeace activists - Peter, Meike and Al - attempted to make a home for themselves, on a tiny ledge, 4 by 2.5 metres in size. Their house was just small solar capsule, with two blue and white deckchairs set outside, for comfort.
They raised a flag, and a new country was formed - a new global state called Waveland. From around the world, citizenship applications flooded in, and before long, 15,000 passports had been issued to people who saw the importance of protection rather than exploitation of nature. The pledge for citizenship read:
"Without violence and by bearing witness, to defend nature, to protect the global commons, to reform industrialism, and to secure peace, believing in action, rather than words."
This was all more seven years ago.
Today, we headed west towards the Hatton Bank, in search of more bottom trawlers - and once again, defending the global commons.
A weird dark lump appeared on the murky horizon.
Rockall! Capital of Waveland...
It really is quite a bizarre sight - hundreds of kilometres of nothing but sea in every direction - just a big rock, sticking out of the sea, with a vicious swell breaking around it. A few gannets and fulmars wheel around the sky nearby.
'It's a wannabe seamount', said Dima, as we sailed past. We're out here calling for the protection of the deep sea life living on underwater mountain ranges - and Rockall - rising from a plateau not much more than 100m below the surface, which itself is more than 1500m high, is the tip of the iceberg.
Earlier in the day, nearly half the crew become photographic assistants, as Kate and Gavin organised our specialised underwater camera - this was a test run, in which we lowered the camera on a rather complicated winch system, a whopping 200m below the ocean surface. When the rig is 1m from the bottom, a trigger fires both the camera and flash. Then we haul up the rig a few metres, and drop it again. Keep an eye on the Image Gallery for our findings...
