Photograph and sample of gutta-percha from a bale found embedded in the machair shore at Sandaig (NL 936 436) by visitor Jennie Hynd in September 2022. The extent of the lichen and vegetation on the bale suggests that it had been there for some time.
Gutta-percha is a stretchy, rubbery material, derived from the latex of the Palaquium gutta tree in Malaysia. During the second half of the 19th century, gutta-percha was imported into Britain in vast quanities and used as insulation for underwater electrical cables, golf balls, chewing gum and root canal treatment. Synthetic materials have since largely replaced it.
Bales of gutta-percha have been washed up on the beaches of western Europe for over 100 years, with many likely to have come from ships wrecked during WWI such as the Japanese liner Miyazaki Maru, which was sunk by a German U-boat off the Scilly Isles in 1917.
Two original monochrome postcards showing Scarinish Harbour and Island House. These are originals of digital copies already held in the collection. See 2000.230.4 and 2013.33.2, respectively.
Black & white postcard photograph of cattle standing in Loch a’ Phuil in around the 1920s. Houses and barns of ‘The Land’, Barrapol, are visible in the background.
Scanned copies of photographs of HMS Tiree in Malta in 1957, members of Polish 304 Squadron beside their Wellington XIV and one signed by one of the aircrew, a pilot and navigator in a cockpit, a Warwick aircraft and Warwick ‘ghost’ aircraft with descriptive text. Includes the reverse sides of each photograph. *Copyright restrictions apply*
Copy of a typed ‘Starting and Running Procedure for Hercules XVI Engine. Halifax III. A/C’ for use by pilots flying Halifax aircraft out of RAF Tiree during WWII. 518 Squadron Meteorological Observers used these aircraft.
Black and white photograph of a Halifax III aircraft flying overhead. Halifaxes were flown by 518 Squadron Meteorological Observers based at RAF Tiree during WWII.
Pre-flight checklist on hard board for Halifax aircraft during WWII. Halifaxes were flown by 518 Squadron Meteorological Observers stationed at RAF Tiree. On loan for displaying at Tiree Airport.
Metal drift calculator (isothermal calibration) used by an RAF navigator during WWII. Strapped to the upper thigh along with a roll of note paper, it was used for correcting the aircraft’s height and air speed according to air temperature. Found on moorland just north of Island House, it is thought to have fallen from one of the two aircraft that collided nearby in August 1944. On loan for displaying at Tiree Airport.
Copy of a page from The Times newspaper, 11 Aug 2018, with an obituary for Archie Montgomerie, Earl of Eglington (1939-2018), who bought a house in Caoles in the late 1970s. Known locally as ‘Lord Egg’, he enjoyed participating in Tiree fishing competitions.
