Fairway Rock Island

Fairway Rock Island (65° 37.5'   N 168° 45' W) is a small, uninhabited Alaskan island in Bering Strait, situated just 8 nautical miles (15 km) East South-East 3/4 South of the Little Diomede Island.

Related Topics:
Alaskan - Bering Strait - Little Diomede Island

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This very small island with its bold cliffs is a paradise for many migratory birds.

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Fairway Rock was named by the English explorer James Cook because he knew that if he found Fairway Rock, he could sail his ship out of the foggy Bering Strait. Other sailors like Amundsen mentioned it. Also, what is considered the last offensive action of the American Civil War was found close to this area: the C.S.S. Shenandoah fell upon a fleet of whalers working the waters near Alaska's Little Diomede Island and sank more than two dozen ships on June 22, 1865. This is chronicled in the bookThe Last Shot.

Related Topics:
James Cook - Amundsen - American Civil War - Shenandoah - Whale

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The indigenous peoples who have lived here for thousands of years mostly use that island for gathering bird eggs in the spring. It is too small to live on, but it is rumoured that it was an outpost for electronically monitoring for submarines during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Soviet Union

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In 1966, a first Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) and in 1981 two additional RTGs are placed atop Fairway Rock for "powering environmental instrumentations". They were removed from the Island in 1995.

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Next to this island, less than one nautical mile to the west, passes the meridian opposite to the proposed hexadecimal "Florencetime main meridian" defined in the year 1989 (cf. Hexadecimal Time.)

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