#scarp

Happy second birthday Scrap!

July 28th 1934 saw Gerhard Zucker launch a rocket towards its intended destination on the island of Scarp.

Zucker had already trialed his rocket successfully on the Sussex Downs but this was not the type of location he had in mind that would benefit from his innovation. And so, in July, 1934, Gerhard brought his rockets to the island of Scarp in the Outer Hebrides.

Scarp is a small, rugged island lying just off the north-west coast of Harris, the two islands being separated by the narrow Caolas an Scarp. Although only little more than four kilometres by three kilometres in extent, Scarp supported a considerable population in the 19th century – 32 families, totalling 120 people. Sadly it is now one of many uninhabited islands around Scotland.

In 1934, the island provided an ideal location to launch Scotland’s first mail rocket, the 500 metres width of the Caolas an Scarp being well within the range of Zucker’s projectiles. The launch date agreed was 28 July, 1934, and Zucker had special stamps prepared as he had done for many of his previous mail flights. These were rather more impressive than the ones used in the Sussex Downs trial and depicted a rocket in flight towards an island, and an upright rocket ready for launch. The stamps were inscribed ‘WESTERN ISLES ROCKET POST.“ sold at two shillings and sixpence, and five shillings, the former being for use on ‘printed paper rate’ items of mail, and the latter for ‘letter rate’ items such as sealed envelopes.

It is believed that Scarp was chosen as the location of the next test flight following national media coverage of an incident which occurred on the island in January 1934. Chirsty Maclennan from Scarp experienced difficulties during childbirth of twins. She gave birth to the first child, Mary, at home in Scarp, but complications required her removal to hospital in Stornoway, which happily resulted in the birth of another healthy baby girl called Jessie. Much was made in the press of the fact that the girls had been born on two separate islands, in separate counties, and on different dates. The girls became affectionately known locally as Miss Harris and Miss Lewis.

In July 1934, Zucker attempted to launch a rocket from Scarp to mainland Harris, which instead exploded, showering the surrounds with the 1200 letters contained within the capsule. Three days later, Zucker attempted another launch from Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, intended for Scarp, which met a similar fate.

Following his failed attempts on Scarp and at Amhuinnsuidhe, Zucker tried another rocket launch on Lymington Golf Course in Hampshire, claiming it would cross the sea to the Isle of Wight. Instead a gust of wind caught it after launch and it veered off course, landing in a bog a few miles away. The Home Office had tried to prevent this launch. Zucker’s activities did not have the support of the authorities by this point. The Postmaster General who had sent staff to attend this demonstration, was reprimanded for doing so, as it conferred an air of legitimacy on activities which were now understood to be dangerous to the public and poorly planned. Zucker was later arrested, and spent two days in prison after leaving a dangerous load of gunpowder in a railway station cloakroom. He was deported soon afterwards, accused of defrauding the Post Office with his bogus stamps and of being a danger to the national security of the country.

A further arrest followed in 1936, by the German authorities, for fraud and embezzlement, for the selling of stamps for two rocket launches in Ostende, Belgium, which never took place.

Zucker seems to have given up his rocket experiments and contrary to some stories there is no evidence he was involved with the Nazi rocket programme, in fact he was in the Luftwaffe during the war.

He popped up again in 1964 though with another mail rocket, this time it ended in disaster killing three people leading to a ban on civillian testing of rockets, Gerhard Zucker was once again began launching mail rockets in the 70’s

I love the stamp on the letter “damaged by first explosion” 

A movie based on Zucker’s attempts with mail rockets at Scarp was made 2004, called The Rocket Post, starring Ulrich Thomsen as Zucker.

Snaking through the sky This panoramic photograph of the Milky Way was taken in Serpentine National Park. The falls are formed where water tumbles over the Darling Scarp, a major fault near the coast in Western Australia that separates ancient, Precambrian aged crust from younger rocks in the Perth Basin to the west.

“Lighthouse”