Seal Island, South Africa

Seal Island, South Africa

Geography
Location	Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates	34°8′10″S 18°34′58″E / 34.13611°S 18.58278°E / -34.13611; 18.58278
Administration
South Africa

Seal Island (formerly known as Witte Klip, meaning "White Rock") is a small land mass located 5.7 kilometres (3.5 miles) off the northern beaches of False Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. The island is so named because of the great number of Cape fur seals that occupy it. It is 5 acres (2.0 hectares) in area and home to 64,000 cape fur seals.^[1] It is also home to seabirds, and it is likely that non-marine species fly there to breed as well . The island is an outcrop of Cape granite and rises no more than about 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 feet) above the high tide mark. The island is long and narrow – 800 by 50 metres (2,620 by 160 feet). There is no vegetation, soil of any significance, or beach.

A radar mast was built on the island during World War II by a crew who lived in prefabricated huts for the duration of the construction but this tower gradually succumbed to corrosion and was blown over in a winter storm in 1970. All that remains of it is rusty, twisted metal. The ruins of a few huts and other structures from the sealing and guano-collection era (first half of the 20th century) have remained on the island. Some rock inscriptions made by sealers in the 1930s are still evident.^{[citation needed]}