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  • Operation Baseline

    Ireland gets back on rocky road to Rockall riches



    Ireland is recalculating its claim to potentially oil and gas-rich Atlantic waters — right down to the very last centimetre.

  • #2
    Very nice bit of work from the Air Corps. Great credit to the OSi too - it's not every civil servant would agree to be winched onto a windswept rock in the North Atlantic.

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    • #3
      I thought the British still claim it?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Pure Hover View Post
        Very nice bit of work from the Air Corps. Great credit to the OSi too - it's not every civil servant would agree to be winched onto a windswept rock in the North Atlantic.
        Its not every civil servant would be offered the chance to.
        For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by tomh903 View Post
          I thought the British still claim it?
          I think I heard that they dropped the claim (but the Faroes haven't)

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          • #6
            That's strange. I'd have thought the British would have been the least likely to give it up.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by tomh903 View Post
              That's strange. I'd have thought the British would have been the least likely to give it up.
              Its not exactly Gib!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by DeV View Post
                I think I heard that they dropped the claim (but the Faroes haven't)
                They haven't droped their claim on the rock, but have agreed to Irelands claim to some of the mineral rights around it.
                It was the year of fire...the year of destruction...the year we took back what was ours.
                It was the year of rebirth...the year of great sadness...the year of pain...and the year of joy.
                It was a new age...It was the end of history.
                It was the year everything changed.

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                • #9
                  The newspaper article is a little vague as to whether or not the Air Corp actually flew to Rockall .
                  Don't spit in my Bouillabaisse .

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Laners View Post
                    The newspaper article is a little vague as to whether or not the Air Corp actually flew to Rockall .
                    They didn't. The rocks which were used for the baseline measurement are all on/just off the Irish mainland or the inhabited offshore islands within our territorial limits.

                    The UN convention has determined that only habitable islands can be used for baseline measurements so ownership of Rockall itself is a lot less important than was believed in the past. Hence the reason the Brits have sort of lost interest in it. Basically the issue now is about carving up the seabed around Rockall as if the rock wasn't there.

                    As I understand it, the reason for the continued dispute between Denmark/Faroes and the UK is that the UK insists on using the Island of St Kilda as its baseline. No one has lived permanently on St Kilda since the 1930's although it is home to archaeologists in the summer and some BA personnel are stationed there (I assume there is an early-warning radar site there). The Faroes say its uninhabited and not a valid baseline. The Brits say its is capable of supporting human settlement.
                    Last edited by Sluggie; 28 October 2014, 22:19.

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                    • #11
                      "For the first time in almost 60 years the exact measurements of the country's territorial waters are being taken from 50 specially selected points.

                      In operation baseline the Air Corps are working closely with Ordnance Survey Ireland, winching geographers on to some of the most inaccessible headlands and islands on our shores to mark co-ordinates from which the breadth of our territorial sea is measured.

                      Currently the island of Ireland itself covers 20,863,360 acres of land and over 220 million acres of marine and undersea territory. This marine environment is a fantastically valuable resource and, by using the Air Corps, the National Mapping Agency can confirm the size of Ireland’s Territorial sea and EEZ, and the State’s rights over the exploration and use of marine resources of this area.

                      Think what you could do with one acre of land…. and imagine the amazing possibilities of Ireland’s claim over 220 million acres of land.

                      Here’s a short video of how it’s done with the crew of one of our Agusta Westland 139."

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                      • #12
                        MOD report on British visit to Rockall in 1970

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by DeV View Post
                          MOD report on British visit to Rockall in 1970

                          https://assets.publishing.service.go...ll_in_1970.pdf
                          Very interesting. Whoever wrote the report and photo captions had a dry sense of humour! I especially liked the photo of the participants, with the RN officer in shirt and tie!
                          'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
                          'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
                          Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
                          He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
                          http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

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