The last great auk
It would have been cold on the June day in 1844 that the last great auk died. Even in midsummer Iceland’s weather is described as “cold, windy and cloudy”, with a daytime air temperature of 12°C and a sea temperature that hovers around 7°C. Nonetheless, almost 200 years ago twelve men rowed a boat through a heaving grey sea towards Eldey Island, 16 kilometres off the Reykjanes Peninsula on the volcanic southwest coast of Iceland, a journey that people today still describe as “dangerous and nausea-inducing”.
They were in pursuit of a valuable prize, a great auk (), but set out in hope rather than expectation, so rare had the birds become. They would
