Transcription of a letter of 1868 from the Tiree factor John Geekie about a rescue involving the crew of the ‘Duchess’.
Courtesy of His Grace the Duke of Argyll
In a letter of 1868 to the 8th Duke of Argyll, his factor John Geekie commended eight Tiree men who had rescued three fishermen from drowning in Balephuil Bay during a gale. Two of the men were crew of the ‘Duchess’, built by the Duke in 1860 and let out to local men.
In May 1861 the factor had reported that ‘the crew of the Duchess fishing boat had a very good fishing…once they took courage and went out where the Tyree boats were fishing outside the light house’, the implication being that the crew were unnecessarily timid.
Their reluctance is easily explained by their lack of familiarity handling a vessel nearly twice the length of the average Tiree fishing boat and also by the dangers of fishing five or more miles from shore in a small sailing boat in the days before reliable weather forecasting and global positioning.
Photograph of Dr Alexander Buchanan, Medical Officer for Tiree 1860-1911.
Courtesy of Mr Hugh MacKinnon
In 1860 Dr. Alexander Buchanan, a 25 year old surgeon newly qualified from Edinburgh, was appointed Tiree’s Medical Officer. He was given the tenancy of Baugh farm as a living by the Duke of Argyll.
He married Colina Campbell, daughter of the tenant of Balephetrish farm, and the couple had six children. From a farming background himself, he was no doubt helped in the running of his 160 acre farm by his wife’s family.
Dr Buchanan worked until his death in 1911 aged 75. It was said his patients would feel better at the sound of his oilskins rustling. On his death a monument was erected on Cnoc Eibrig in Baugh to a ‘Medical officer and loved and valued friend of the islanders’.
Black and white photograph of Dr Alexander Buchanan, 1835-1911.
Dr Alexander Buchanan, 1835-1911, Medical Officer for Tiree from 1860 to his death in 1911.
Photocopied extract from book `Annals of the Free Church of Scotland 1842-1900` edited by Rev William Ewing, D.D., Vol I: pp 160, 234, 248, Vol II: pp 121-123.
Biographical information about Free Church ministers who served Tiree.
