322 



MERRIAM 



Some time after the upheaval of Bogoslof in 1796 a 

 high rock was observed a short distance to the northward. 

 Kotzebue states that when in Unalaska in 1817 he was 

 told by a reliable Russian that a rock supposed to be the 

 Ship Rock of Cook, stood about 100 fathoms north of 

 Bogoslof. It appears in Krusenstern's chart published in 

 1826 (fig. 34). In 1832 Tebenkof sailed with full can- 

 vas between it and Bogoslof, and described it as a high 

 crag rising from the sea about a verst (^ mile) north of 

 the volcano. 



In 1873 it was described by Ball "as "a perpendicular 

 square topped pillar, half a mile north and west of the 

 north end of the island," and was shown in several of his 

 sketches (figs. 2, 3, 10, n). 



In 1884, the year following the upheaval of New Bog- 

 oslof, Ship Rock was described by Lieutenant Cantwell 

 and Dr. Yeamans as a towerlike rock 87 feet in height, with 

 a slight inclination toward the north. It stood on the bar 

 or isthmus which then connected the two islands, but was 

 much nearer the new than the old volcano, as shown in 

 Lieutenant Doty's photographs (fig. 1 7 and plate facing this 

 page). The presence of barnacles and water marks twenty 

 feet above sea level showed that it had been recently ele- 

 vated; and the form of the summit, as shown in photo- 

 graphs and sketches made by Lieutenants Cantwell and 

 Doty, indicates that disintregation had begun (see plate 

 facing this page). 



The next year (1885) it was apparently unchanged 

 (Healy). 



Two years later (1887), according to a sketch by Wm. 

 C. Greenfield, it was still a prominent pillar, but its top 

 had become very narrow and the extreme summit had 

 doubtless crumbled away (fig. 21). 



In 1890 it had fallen, and its site was marked by debris 

 (Tanner). This debris was plainly visible at the time 



