The wreck of the ‘Ocean Tide’
Photograph of the wreck of the ‘Ocean Tide’ off Mannal in 1942.
Courtesy of Ms Linda Gowans
George Holleyman, an archaeologist in the RAF police posted to Tiree during World War II, photographed the wreck of the ‘Ocean Tide’ in January 1942. A trawler from Leith, the ‘Ocean Tide’ had run aground off Mannal in poor weather.
Repeated attempts were made by RAF personnel and three local volunteer coastguards to shoot a line to the stricken vessel without success. Buffeted by the wind and the incoming tide, the trawler was listing so badly it was in danger of turning over.
The crew made a last desperate attempt to save themselves and launched a small boat. Within minutes they lost control and were driven on to a rocky promontory. By luck, two of the lines had caught on the rocks and the six crew members, one of them injured, were able to struggle ashore.
Black and white photograph of SS Ocean Tide in 1942.
The SS Ocean Tide on the rocks at Mannal in January 1942 photographed by George Holleyman.
Black and white photograph of Mrs Kennedy, Balevullin.
Mrs Kennedy of Balevullin making a haycock, photographed by George Holleyman.
Isabella MacLean of Kilmoluaig with her cows
Photograph of Isabella MacLean with her cows in Kilmoluaig.
Courtesy of Ms Linda Gowans
Isabella MacLean was photographed with her cows by George Holleyman, an archaeologist in the RAF police posted to Tiree during World War II. Her father was a crofter and fisherman, known locally as ‘The Mate’. Isabella herself was known as Bella Mhate.
She lived on her own in a thatched cottage on her eighteen acre croft in Kilmoluaig. The cottage had an earthen floor and all her furniture, including her box bed, was made from driftwood. Lighting was by oil lamp.
Her income came from a herd of six cattle and a flock of around forty sheep. She also had grazing rights on another croft. Neither croft was cultivated but she grew a small patch of potatoes. Bella was also an expert cheese maker.
Black and white photograph of Isabella MacLean, Kilmoluaig.
Isabella MacLean (Bella Mhate) of Kilmoluaig with her cows, photographed by George Holleyman in the early 1940s.
Black and white photograph of Mary MacLean, Balevullin.
Mary MacLean with two sheep photographed by George Holleyman outside her thatched cottage in Balevullin in the early 1940s. Note the whale vertebrae in the foreground.
Mary MacLean of Balevullin
Photograph of Mary MacLean of Balevullin at her spinning wheel.
Courtesy of Ms Linda Gowans
George Holleyman, an archaeologist in the RAF police posted to Tiree during World War II, photographed Mary MacLean at her spinning wheel in the garden of her croft at Balevullin. Mary kept five cows and around twenty-five sheep and grew no crops other than potatoes.
To the right of the photograph is the top stone of a rotary quern. It is thought that rotary querns were introduced to Britain by the Romans around 2,000 years ago. Two women would sit on the ground with the quern between them, feeding grain into the central hole in the upper stone which was rotated by hand using a handle.
This was enormously time-consuming work. In ‘The Statistical Account of Scotland’ of the 1790s, Rev. Archibald MacColl estimated ‘by the lowest calculation, the work of 50 women is yearly lost at grinding’.
Black and white photograph of Mary MacLean, Balevullin.
Mary MacLean spinning wool in her garden at Balevullin, photgraphed by George Holleyman in the early 1940s. Note the drystone walling and quern stone.
Black and white photograph of John Brown, Scarinish Hotel, 1946.
John Brown, Scarinish Hotel, 1946.
The Whitehouse MacLeans with a horse-drawn reaper in around 1920.
Photograph of the MacLean family from Whitehouse with a horse-drawn reaper.
Courtesy of Mr Angus MacLean
The MacLean family from Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg are pictured cutting corn with a horse-drawn reaper. This was a tremendous advance on the sickle and scythe. Use of the scythe needed strength and skill and one man could cut only a quarter acre in a day.
Two men sat on the reaper, one to guide the horses which walked beside the standing corn while the other tilted the reaper’s platform when enough corn for a sheaf had gathered. He then pushed it off with an angled rake. The sheaves were tied by people following behind the reaper.
Binders pulled by three horses replaced the reaper. Mechanically operated implements drawn by tractors eventually took over after World War II.
Black and white photograph of cutting corn at Whitehouse.
Cutting corn by reaper at Whitehouse, Cornaig. L-R: Donald MacLean (Big Donald), Charles MacLean (Curly), Tom MacLean, Hector MacLean (Curly’s father), Donald MacLean (father of Tom and Big Donald), unknown, Murdoch MacLean (Curly’s brother).
Cutting corn by a reaper was a tremendous step forward from the sickle and scythe. Sickle work was done mainly by women. Four or five would work together cutting handfuls of corn at a time which were then tied together by the men. The scythe had a blade approx. 2.5 ft long (85 cm) and was handled by the men. A man could cut fully a quarter acre in a day.
The reaper was powered by horses. A cross-member board 4 ins by 2 ins (10 cm x 5 cm) and 4.5 ft long (137 cm) was bolted to the cutting blade of the reaper by hinges, allowing it to operate up and down. Ten strips of wood 4 ins by 1 in (10 cm x 2.5 cm) and 2.5 ft long (75 cm) were placed at 4 inch (10 cm) intervals at right angles to the cross-member. A pedal which was attached to the cross-member was pressed down by the worker’s right foot. This allowed the corn to gather on the platform. He then released the pedal and the platform tilted to the ground. The corn was finally pushed off with the tilting rake. Enough corn to make a whole sheaf then lay on the ground in readiness for the people following behind to tie it. Note the central figure, Hector MacLean, has a tilting rake specially designed to remove corn from the platform.
Binders pulled by 3 horses replaced the reaper. Mechanically operated implements drawn by tractors eventually took over.
Black and white photograph of Peggy MacEachern in 1940.
Peggy MacEachern with a calf outside Creag Mhor in Cornaigbeg in 1940.
Black and white photograph of Leipan, Felag, Mairi and Peggy MacEachern in 1940.
L-R: Leipan (Archie), Felag, Mairi and Peggy MacEachern in 1940.
Black and white photograph of Felag, Mairi and Peggy MacEachern in 1940.
L-R: Felag, Mairi (sister-in-law) and Peggy MacEachern in 1940
