WWII sea mine discovered under gravel on the Sandaig shore in August 2016. Visible are the locations of the detonation horns and the hole where a time-sensitive self-destruct mechanism was installed. Hundreds of pebbles and shells are fused onto its surface. Tens of thousands of similar mines were laid around the Hebrides and the North Sea during the first and second world wars.
Five WWII bricks found on Balephetrish Beach. Made by different brick-workers: Arrowhill, Dewar, Hurlford, Holytown and AR.
Large metal marlin spike for splicing heavy rope. Probably from the Vaul boat-builders.
Red ensign flag from the ‘Claymore‘ ferry. The skipper, Capatin John MacKinnon, gave the flag to Donald Brown, Vaul, in the 1960s.
1930s binoculars given to Archie MacLeod, Carrachan, Kilmoluaig, by one of the officers of the destroyer HMS Sturdy, which was wrecked on rocks at Sandaig in 1940. Archie (Erchie Charrachain) was home on leave from Gourock where he was skipper on one of the troop tenders based there during WWII. He was present at Sandaig during the rescue and carried ashore on his shoulders one of the Sturdy’s navigating officers who, in a show of gratitude, placed the binoculars around Archie’s neck. Archie’s son, also Archie (Gilleasbuig Carrachan), played with the binoculars as a boy. The binoculars remained in Carrachan until they were passed on to An Iodhlann in 2019.
Includes handwritten history of the binoculars by Gilleasbuig MacLeod.
Iron head of a sledge hammer made in a blacksmith’s forge by welding together strips of iron (which is the reason that it is not very hard and the ends are mangled). Found in a wall in Balephetrish.
Stoneware bottle made by R. White, London (regd). It would have been stoppered with a cork.
Robert & Mary White started selling ginger beer in 1845 from their home in Camberwell. By 1869, they had five factories. The company was taken over by Whitbread in the 1960s, and by Britvic in 1986. The bottles could be returned: “R White’s ginger beer goes off pop, a penny on the bottle when you take it to the shop“. Stealing the bottles and making drinks to sell in another manufacturer’s name was a common offence – hence the ‘regd’ mark.
Clear, glass, non-aerated drinks bottle made by D. McCall & Co., Oban, from around 1930-1950.
Clear, greenish, glass bottle for aerated water or ginger beer, made by Finlay McDiarmid & Co., Glasgow, who produced bottles from the 1870s to the 1910s.
Lapel or cap badge of RAF 518 Squadron found on a sports field in South Island, New Zealand, in 2019 (32 x 20 mm). Made in Birmingham by HW Miller – medal, badge and button manufacturers since the 1930s. 518 Squadron – Meteorological Observers was stationed on Tiree during WWII. Only a handful of New Zealand men served at RAF Tiree, and it is presumed that the badge belonged to one of them and was dropped on his returned to New Zealand. The badge depicts a hand holding a key with the inscription ‘Tha an Iuchair againn-ne / We hold the key’.
