Post by Catsmate on Apr 15, 2015 12:20:28 GMT
Just a quickie.
The Disappearing Island
Not Atlantis, or even Sandy Island (which doesn't seem to have actually existed despite being on marine charts for a century) or any of the other soggy and dubious bits of real estate that have bedeviled explorers and map-makers over the centuries.
Sarah Ann (sometimes Sarah Anne) Island definitely existed. It was first charted in 1854, being passed on 10 December by the Alice Frazier and was claimed in 1858 by an American guano firm. The island was located approximately 175° W and 4° N, south of Honolulu and northwest of Easter Island.
Guano was extracted for a number of years but eventually the island (claimed as a US possession under the Guano Islands Act) was abandoned. It was visited intermittently over the following decades, the last time known being in 1917.
However in 1932 it finally became of interest; it's position made it highly suitable for observation of the total solar eclipse of 8 June 1937 which would have the longest totality ever observed (seven minutes close to the equator).
Professors Kooff (Rechen-Institute Berlin) and Robertson (US Naval Almanac Office) suggested a temporary observatory be established there.
The US Navy dispatched a cruiser in October 1932 to examine the island as the potential site for a temporary base.
Unfortunately the island wasn't there. Soon after it was removed from marine charts.
Now island sinking isn't nearly as odd a phenomenon as might be thought, many of the Pacific islands are volcanic and tectonic disturbances can cause them to disappear under the waves. But that's prosaic reality, in the Whoniverse (or a Pulp game) the real reasons for an island to disappear can be far more interesting.
1. It's actually still there.
So why is everyone ignoring it? Has someone fitted the island with a cloaking device or perception filter on a grand scale? Why? Is the island now the base for a Mad Scientist or alien scout party?
Or is something (Cthulhu? A giant ape? A giant radioactive lizard?) kept there, imprisoned so humanity won't encounter it?
Did the US expedition actually find the island, and then cover the affair up? What did they find? Is the island still there, off the common maratime routes and guarded against intruders? Is there a quiet international agreement (perhaps administered by UNIT) to leave the island off maps and satellite photos?
Or was it found earlier, perhaps late in World War 1. Did a German commerce raider or warship land there and discover something odd, like a crashed alien spaceship. Was the island rendered invisible, or out of phase with reality, then?
Is there a secret German base there after the war ends?
2. It's gone.
Was it destroyed in a weapons test, or the catastrophic failure of a piece of Mad Science (an earthquake machine for example) or was it moved elsewhere. Who was responsible? A government, Mad Scientist (or group of same), aliens, Silurians, time travellers.
If it's gone, then where is it? Stuck in a pocket universe intermittently connecting to the real world, and inspiring many a nautical ghost story perhaps. Or in some form of stable time loop, reappearing in the 1850s after disappearing in the 1920s.
Unfortunately the island was definitely gone before 1935 so it's probably not connected to the timeslip of Victor Goddard (though if time travel is involved then it could still be part of that incident) but maybe the technology used to outfit the Odin was found there?
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?
The Disappearing Island
Not Atlantis, or even Sandy Island (which doesn't seem to have actually existed despite being on marine charts for a century) or any of the other soggy and dubious bits of real estate that have bedeviled explorers and map-makers over the centuries.
Sarah Ann (sometimes Sarah Anne) Island definitely existed. It was first charted in 1854, being passed on 10 December by the Alice Frazier and was claimed in 1858 by an American guano firm. The island was located approximately 175° W and 4° N, south of Honolulu and northwest of Easter Island.
- Guano is bird (or bat) excrement, an unglamorous but vital material before the development of the Haber-Bosch process. It was the principal source of nitrates for fertilisers and explosives. Wars were fought over guano rich islands.
Guano was extracted for a number of years but eventually the island (claimed as a US possession under the Guano Islands Act) was abandoned. It was visited intermittently over the following decades, the last time known being in 1917.
However in 1932 it finally became of interest; it's position made it highly suitable for observation of the total solar eclipse of 8 June 1937 which would have the longest totality ever observed (seven minutes close to the equator).
Professors Kooff (Rechen-Institute Berlin) and Robertson (US Naval Almanac Office) suggested a temporary observatory be established there.
- The band of totality of the eclipse being only about 200km wide and shipboard observations would be less accurate.
The US Navy dispatched a cruiser in October 1932 to examine the island as the potential site for a temporary base.
Unfortunately the island wasn't there. Soon after it was removed from marine charts.
Now island sinking isn't nearly as odd a phenomenon as might be thought, many of the Pacific islands are volcanic and tectonic disturbances can cause them to disappear under the waves. But that's prosaic reality, in the Whoniverse (or a Pulp game) the real reasons for an island to disappear can be far more interesting.
1. It's actually still there.
So why is everyone ignoring it? Has someone fitted the island with a cloaking device or perception filter on a grand scale? Why? Is the island now the base for a Mad Scientist or alien scout party?
Or is something (Cthulhu? A giant ape? A giant radioactive lizard?) kept there, imprisoned so humanity won't encounter it?
- Bulis's excellent EU novel The Eye of the Giant is a good source for inspiration. Part of it is set on a hidden Pacific island complete with Sinister Secret.
Did the US expedition actually find the island, and then cover the affair up? What did they find? Is the island still there, off the common maratime routes and guarded against intruders? Is there a quiet international agreement (perhaps administered by UNIT) to leave the island off maps and satellite photos?
Or was it found earlier, perhaps late in World War 1. Did a German commerce raider or warship land there and discover something odd, like a crashed alien spaceship. Was the island rendered invisible, or out of phase with reality, then?
Is there a secret German base there after the war ends?
- This could lead into a variant on The Ghostship Pirates with the technology used on the KMS Odin turning up during World War 1.
2. It's gone.
Was it destroyed in a weapons test, or the catastrophic failure of a piece of Mad Science (an earthquake machine for example) or was it moved elsewhere. Who was responsible? A government, Mad Scientist (or group of same), aliens, Silurians, time travellers.
If it's gone, then where is it? Stuck in a pocket universe intermittently connecting to the real world, and inspiring many a nautical ghost story perhaps. Or in some form of stable time loop, reappearing in the 1850s after disappearing in the 1920s.
- Are there ships anchored off Sarah Ann? The USS Cyclops, the SS Waratah, the Madagascar, the SY Aurora, the USS Conestoga or the KMS Odin for example.
Unfortunately the island was definitely gone before 1935 so it's probably not connected to the timeslip of Victor Goddard (though if time travel is involved then it could still be part of that incident) but maybe the technology used to outfit the Odin was found there?
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?
