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What a helpful resource Navlist is!

I had asked about Virgin Rocks as a hazard, lying about 80 miles East of
Cape Race, Newfoundland, on the Grand Banks; which took my interest, as I
hadn't even heard of them before.

Andres Ruiz provided an appropriate patch from a chart, showing  an isolated
rock, just 4.3 metres below datum, surrounded by larger shoal patches at
around 30 metres. There was no sign of any attempt to mark this danger
(which lies very close to  a shipping track between East Coast ports of
North America, and Northern Europe), and it would be very difficult to do
so. Hard to plant any sort of fixed beacon on a rock that never uncovers,
and hard to mark a hazard , with buoys which can be subject to ice.

John Cole provided a pointer to the US Sailing Directions for Newfoundland,
which warned of heavy concentrations of fishing vessels near Virgin Rocks,
and of the breaking seas to be expected in the vicinity.

I wonder how many craft have come to grief on Virgin Rocks. Particularly in
days before radio aids, for craft sailing Westwards, when in the prolonged
fogs that infest the area, celestial observations had been impossible. And
yet, I don't recall any mention of Virgin Rocks as an important factor in
the history of North Atlantic navigation. Was it?

Taking note of the great number of vessels that ended their days on Sable
Island, another hazard along the same ship track, one might expect a similar
litter of wreckage around Virgin Rocks, though presenting a much smaller
target than Sable Island.

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.


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