Transcript of Precognition of Witnesses regarding the discovery of bodies on board the wreck of the Francis of St Ives and on the shore of the Isle of Coll, November 1860. The Francis of St Ives, a three masted vessel, was wrecked off the shore of Caoles in Coll, ‘between Ellen oare and Caol’. Descriptions are given of tattoos upon the body of the sailor on board the ship, as well as the clothes he was wearing.
Statements are provided by:
Hector Maclean (son of and residing with John Maclean, Arileod)
John Kennedy (Grimsary)
John Craig (tacksman, Crossapol)
Charles Cowan (mason, Ballyhough)
In a letter attached from James MacColl (Interim Registrar of Births and Deaths for the District of Coll) to Henry Nisbet (Tobermory Procurator Fiscal), MacColl writes that the body of Mrs Fowler, a ‘pauper’ residing at Torastan in Coll, was discovered on the 18th October 1860 at some distance from her own house.
This report contains descriptions of the bodies discovered. Click to read a transcript of this item.
From the liveArgyll Archives in Lochgilphead, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.