Rottumerplaat

Rottumerplaat (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌrɔtʏmərˈplaːt]) is one of the three islands that make up Rottum in the West Frisian Islands. The island is located in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. It is situated between the shoal Simonszand and the island Rottumeroog.^[1] Rottumerplaat started as a shoal in the 1830. It continued to grow into an island after 1950, when a stuifdijk, a wind-blown dike, was constructed by Rijkswaterstaat, because there were plans to use Rottumerplaat as a work island for the reclamation of the Wadden Sea.^[1]

In 1959, the

In 1971 writers Jan Wolkers and Godfried Bomans each spent a week on the island. Their only connection with the outside world was a short daily radio relay with VARA radio presenter Willem Ruis, who stayed at a hotel in nearby Warffum.^[5] The interviews were broadcast as a radio programme, Alone On An Island.^[1] For Godfried Bomans, the stay on the island was a disaster; he could not cope with the noise the many seagulls made and he was troubled by loneliness. Jan Wolkers however experienced his stay on the island as an adventure and kept himself alive by catching shrimps and eel, and boiling sea sandwort. He also rescued a young seal. Both authors published a book about their stay on the island.^[5]

References

External links

• Media related to Rottumerplaat at Wikimedia Commons