Article from The Times newspaper, 1868, about the wrecking of the coal schooner ‘Maria and Fanny’ off Kenavara during a gale in 1868, the loss of its captain and one member of the crew, and the rescue of the surviving three crew by Captain Archibald Brown, Mannal, in a boat rowed from Balephuil.
Large framed certificate from The Royal Humane Society, London, in 1869, belonging to Captain Archibald Brown, Mannal, for his actions and those of his crew in the rescue of the the surviving crew of a stricken schooner off Kenavara in Balephuil Bay in 1868. The vessel was the ‘Maria and Fanny’ of Milford, Wales, which was on its way between Ayr and Limerick with a load of coal. It was blown off course by a gale north of Ireland. The rescue was carried out at great risk to the captain and his crew. Captain Archibald and his crew were awarded medals of the Society.
Section of brass plumbing from the wreck of the schooner ‘Oceana’, which grounded on Crossapol beach in 1949. Found by Charlie Berlie on Crossapol beach.
Three handwritten Gaelic songs/poems by Rev Hector Cameron, Cornaigmore, around 1920. The first lin/title of each is (1) Air faillirinn o, ‘sna ho orinn o (title – Fear a’ bhata?), (2) Nach aithne shuit fhein?, (3) title – Naire graibh.
Handwritten letter from Rev. Hector Cameron, Cornaigmore, to his daughter Edith around 1920 about his translation into English of a Gaelic song beginning ‘Fair my dear, my Highland laddie’, which he wrote on the reverse of the sheet. Includes some other news.
Oval, wood-framed profile of Captain Donald MacKinnon, Heanish, moulded from white wax in 1867. Captain MacKinnon was captain of the tea clipper ‘Taeping’ which won the Great China Tea Race of 1866. The portrait is believed to have been made by William Murray of Glasgow, whose daughter, Margaret Anne Murray, married Donald MacKinnon in 1855. William Murray is known to have made wax and plaster portraits of his relatives as gifts, and it may be that this was created after Captain MacKinnon’s death.
When the portrait arrived at An Iodhlann, the wax was broken into many pieces and the label on the back had been cut out. It was sent to the Scottish Conservation Studio at Hopetoun House, Queensferry for restoration, where conservators discovered that there had been two previous attempts to repair it, once with candle wax and once with sellotape.
Newspaper cutting about an exhibition of paintings by Duncan MacGregor Whyte in Oban in 1984, including a photograph of his daughter-in-law, Mrs Ena MacGregor Whyte, at the exhibition. Duncan MacGregor Whyte was a prolific painter of Tiree scenes and Tiree people during the early 1900s, and built a studio at Balephuil.
Extract from newpaper the Dundee Courier in 1861 detailing the difficulties faced by Rev John Gregorson Campbell in becoming accepted by the people of Tiree as their minister, and subsequent resolution of the matter by the General Assembly.