Whilst there have been a number of fundamental studies illustrating the effects of Earth's rotation on the flow around submerged obstacles (Hogg, 1973) and islands (Longuet-Higgins, 1969) there appear to be relatively few studies that include both non-linear advective and frictional effects (Huthnance, 1972), and few were found describing the stagnation region that develops in the lee of the flow due to the advection of vorticity generated by the frictional stress associated with a beach gradient (Pingree & Maddock, 1979). In this paper some rotational flow patterns that can develop around an island due to these effects are examined using a numerical model and an overall attempt has been made to illustrate the possible use of numerical models as a tool for theoretical investigations in areas of study that until recently have been exclusively analytical or experimental. An island is surrounded by a uniform beach gradient and the model illustrates how varying bottom topography modifies a steady flow due to both frictional and Earth's rotation effects. Only non-oscillating flows with steady wakes are considered here so that the vorticity sources and sinks can be examined as simply as possible. Stagnation regions due to frictional effects are known to be important in determining sediment deposition and the effects of the Earth's rotation may result in increasing asymmetry in sediment distributions (Johnson, Vogt & Schneider, 1971).