{{short description|Island in the Alaska, United States}} {{Infobox islands | name = New Eddystone Rock | image_name = New Eddystone Rock.jpg | image_caption = | image_size = | map = Alaska | native_name = | native_name_link = | nickname = | location = [[Behm Canal]] | coordinates = {{Coord|55|30|13|N|130|56|09|W|}} | archipelago = | total_islands = | major_islands = | area_sqmi = | length_mi = | width_mi = | elevation_ft = 237 | country = United States | country_admin_divisions_title = State | country_admin_divisions = [[Alaska]] | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Borough | country_admin_divisions_1 = [[Ketchikan Gateway]] | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = | country_admin_divisions_2 = | country_largest_city = | country_largest_city_population = | population = | population_as_of = | density_sqmi = | ethnic_groups = | additional_info = }} '''New Eddystone Rock''' an [[Alaska]]n island located in [[Behm Canal]], about {{convert|40|mile}} east of [[Ketchikan, Alaska|Ketchikan]]. It is a pillar of [[basalt]].{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
== Geology == During the last ice age, [[Southeast Alaska]] was covered by a thick ice sheet. The weight of the ice pressed down and compressed the underlying crust, including the area that is now Behm Canal. As the ice melted at the beginning of the current [[Interglacial|interglacial period]], this weight was reduced. The [[Earth's crust]] responded by flexing upward, a process known as [[Post-glacial rebound|isostatic rebound]]. This movement broke the rock and created a New Eddystone volcano that erupted 15,000 to 13,800 years ago.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Phillip S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30QRAAAAIAAJ&dq=New+eddystone+rock+geological+area&pg=PA97|title=Areal Geology of Alaska|date=1939|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=81|language=en}}</ref>
The volcano rises from the bottom of Behm Canal, about {{Convert|850|ft|m|abbr=}} below sea level.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eastern Part of Behm Canal - NOAA Chart 17242|url=https://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/17424.shtml|date=March 27, 2020|website=Office of Coast Survey -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration}}</ref> The island stands to {{Convert|237|ft|m|abbr=}} above sea level, giving the volcano a total height of over {{Convert|1000|ft|m|abbr=}}. While the portion of the volcano below sea level is somewhat cone-shaped, wave action over the millennia has eroded all the rock above sea level except the dense, spire-shaped volcanic plug.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd629659.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626195153/https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd629659.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 26, 2019|title=Sculptures in Granite|publisher=US Forest Service|year=2019}}</ref>
[[Bathymetry|Bathymetric]] studies of the floor of Behm Canal show that New Eddystone was not the only volcano that emerged as the crust buckled. Four other vents have been identified. Two are dome-shaped, suggesting that they erupted below the glacial ice sheet and were rounded off as the ice flowed over them. The other two, and New Eddystone Rock, are more pointed showing that they had never been overridden by ice. Of the five identified volcanic vents in Behm Canal, only New Eddystone Rock rises above sea level.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=12 New Alaskan Volcanoes|url=https://ougs.org/wessex/news/587/12-new-alaskan-volcanoes/|website=ougs.org|language=en|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref>
The tidal range in Behm canal exceeds {{Convert|20|ft|m|abbr=}}.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tide Predictions - NOAA Tides & Currents|url=https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions.html?id=9450651|website=tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref> Since much of New Eddystone Rock is low-lying beach, the size of the island above the water varies considerably with the tides.
== History == [[File:New Eddystone Rock engraving.jpg|left|thumb|1798 engraving of New Eddystone Rock in George Vancouver's report to King George III.]]
{{Coord|55|30|13|N|130|56|09|W|display=title}}How the native [[Tlingit]] people discovered the island, their name for it, and what role it played in their lives prior to European contact is lost to history.
The first European to observe New Eddystone Rock was [[George Vancouver|Captain George Vancouver]]. He was dispatched by the [[British Admiralty]] in 1791 to survey the northwest coast of North America. By July 1793 Vancouver's multi-year voyage brought him to what is now [[Observatory Inlet]], [[British Columbia]]. He anchored his ships there and then led a two-boat surveying team north along the shore. He commanded [[HMS Discovery (1789)|HMS ''Discovery's'']] yawl, and [[Peter Puget|Lieutenant Peter Puget]] commanded ''Discovery's'' launch.
Exploring north through Behm Canal, Vancouver reached New Eddystone Rock on Friday, August 9, 1793. He beached his boats there. In his report to [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]], he wrote, <blockquote>We stopped to breakfast and whilst we were thus engaged, three small canoes, with about a dozen of the natives, landed and approached us unarmed, and with the utmost good humor accepted such presents as were offered to them, making signs in return, that they had brought nothing to dispose of, but inviting us in the most pressing manner to their habitations<ref>{{Cite book|last=Vancouver|first=George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8lPOclGFkoC&dq=new+Eddystone&pg=PA1|title=A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World|date=1798|publisher=G.G. and J. Robinson ... and J. Edwards|volume=II|pages=352–353|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:John Lynn - Smeaton's Eddystone Lighthouse.jpg|thumb|The Eddystone lighthouse as it appeared in Vancouver's time|alt=|left]]Vancouver chose not to accept the invitation, but instead continued exploring north. He named the island for the [[Eddystone Lighthouse|Eddystone lighthouse]] off [[Plymouth|Plymouth, England]], a pillar that also erupted from a narrow base at sea level.
Much of Southeast Alaska, including New Eddystone Rock, was incorporated into [[Tongass National Forest]] through a series of proclamations by [[Theodore Roosevelt|President Theodore Roosevelt]]. On December 1, 1978 [[Jimmy Carter|President Jimmy Carter]] proclaimed a portion of the Tongass National Forest to be [[Misty Fiords National Monument|Misty Fjords National Monument]], which included New Eddystone Rock.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Proclamation 4623—Misty Fiords National Monument {{!}} The American Presidency Project|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-4623-misty-fiords-national-monument|website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref> In 1980 Congress enacted the [[Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act]], which provided wilderness protection to most of the national monument.<ref>{{Cite web|title=H.R.39 - 96th Congress (1979-1980): Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/96th-congress/house-bill/39|last=Udall|first=Morris K.|date=1980-12-02|website=www.congress.gov|access-date=2020-05-10}}</ref> The island is currently managed by the [[United States Forest Service|U.S. Forest Service]].
==References== {{reflist}} {{commons category|New Eddystone Rock (Alaska)}}
[[Category:Islands of the Alexander Archipelago]] [[Category:Landforms of Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska]]