Conspicuous in the group of islets was an isolated pillar of rock, of considerable height, known as Ship or Sail Rock. It had existed from the earliest times, having been reported as early as 1768. It was seen by Captain Cook in 1778, who mistook it for a ship under sail, hence its name. This was eighteen years before the rise of Old Bogoslof. Ship Bock crumbled and fell in ruins about 1888.
About April, 1906, midway between Old and New Bogoslof, a third island, larger than either of the others appeared. Captain Dirks of Dutch Harbor estimates its size as five times that of New Bogoslof, although the photographs do not seem to bear this out. This new island was first seen by the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, Captain L. M. Garrett, on May 28, 1906, while on her way to the investigation, under direction of Professor Charles H. Gilbert, of the fisheries of Japan. Soon after this date the U. S. Revenue Cutter Perry visited the islands. Photographs were taken under the direction of Lieutenant Hepburn, of the Albatross, and these, sent us by Mr. H. H. Taylor, of the North American Commercial Company, are here reproduced, together with photographs of Castle Island and Fire Island, taken by Mr. N. B. Miller of the Albatross in 1892.
The early history of these very interesting islands is given by Professor George Davidson in the Bulletin of the American Geological Society, Vol. XXII. . p. 267, and a detailed and exhaustive account of them by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, profusely illustrated, appears in the Report of the Harriman Expedition of 1899, Vol. II., p. 291-336.
