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The Black Rock is a British slaving ship that was found inland on the Lost Island. Its history and reason for being on the Island are shrouded in mystery. Parts of its story, however, have been revealed through The Lost Experience. The ship was explored in the episodes "Exodus, Part 1", "Exodus, Part 2" and "The Brig". Its significance to the past and present events on the island, as well as how it got there in the first place remain a mystery.Season 1The Black Rock was actually first mentioned in Danielle Rousseau’s distress signal, though it was not translated by Shannon in the episode, and not known of by most fans. Danielle first mentions the Black Rock while holding Sayid captive, telling him that her Science team was infected on the way back from the Black Rock. Danielle also tells Hurley, in a later episode, that the Numbers were being broadcast from a radio tower near the Black Rock. However, until the final episode of the season, none of the survivors of Flight 815 knew exactly what the Black Rock was.Rousseau finally took a group of them to the Black Rock to get dynamite to blow open the hatch. The back of the ship clearly says ‘BLACK ROCK’ and underneath that, ‘PORTSMOUTH’. Inside they found the shackled remains of slaves and some mining equipment, including the dynamite. Locke suggests that the ship must have been a slave ship on its way to a mining colony out of East Africa – Mozambique.Season 2The Black Rock was absent from season 2, for the most part, with one small exception. In the hatch, during the lockdown and food drop, Locke discovers a Blast Door map of the island. On this map there is an area that says ‘Known final resting place of Magnus Hanso/Black Rock’. This indicates that the map makers, who we later discover were Radzinski and Inman, also knew about the Black Rock and an apparent connection that it has with Alvar Hanso.The Lost ExperienceIt now seems that the Black Rock was a slaving ship run by The New World Sea Traders, a British trading company owned by Magnus Hanso, a prior ship’s captain turned entrepeneur. The ship operated in the black market, since slavery was illegal at the time, and is only connected to The New World Sea Traders because it docked in slip 23 at Portsmouth docks and Hanso’s company owned slips 18 through 27.In 1881 the ship disappeared after leaving Papua New Guinea in the south Indian Ocean with a load of gold from a mining operation. Under normal circumstances the ship would have sailed west back to Africa to trade the gold for more slaves. However, reports from eye witnesses in Papua New Guinea stated that when the ship left dock it sailed east instead. No Trading Companies claimed ownership and a presumed 40 Crewmen and unknown number of slaves were considered lost at sea.Season 3In S3E19, The Brig, Locke brings his father, Anthony Cooper, to the Black Rock and shackles him in the brig. He then brings Sawyer to the ship and traps the two men in the room together. Imprisoned together, they begin talking and Sawyer discovers he is face to face with the man who caused the death of his parents. Here, Sawyer kills Cooper.Also during Episode 19, Danielle enters the ship to collect the dynamite that Jack and the other survivors use to battle the Others in the season finale. Just outside the ship, Locke gives Sawyer the tape recorder that Ben had intended to leave for Juliet, on which were instructions for the capture of pregnant survivors.