Last time we looked at the 1888 extension of the telegraph network to Tiree and Coll, which terminated at Scarinish Post Office. The project had been underwritten by the Fishery Board. This 1892 cutting explains why:
OUR FISHERIES
As instance of the importance of the electric telegraph to our fishing population, the Fishery Board for Scotland, in their annual report, tells that one Saturday morning a large shoal of herring was discovered about three to seven miles off the Island of Stronsay [on the eastern side of the Orkney archipelago] by a few boats which happened to be at sea. Having ascertained the position of this shoal, the officer wired the particulars for the fishermen’s information to all the stations in Orkney, and on the Monday morning every boat employed in the herring fishery in Orkney was on the fishing ground indicated. The result was the heaviest fishing ever obtained in one day in Orkney. The number of boats fishing was 108, and their total catch was 5,400 crans, valued at £3,240.
(Norwich Mercury, 23 July 1892, 4)
A cran was a measure of fish, the equivalent of a 30-gallon herring barrel, around 1200 fish. This one day’s fishing netted around 6 million herring.
After the line was extended to Balemartine, the local MP lobbied the Post Office to do the same for Ruaig. He was unsuccessful:
Mr D. N. Nicol, M. P., who has been exerting himself further in regard to the establishment of postal and telegraph stations in the islands, is in receipt of the following official communication:
My dear Nicol,
On the 2nd May you sent me a letter from Mr Donald Lamont [the Ruaig postmaster] asking for a telegraph office in that village. We have looked into the matter very carefully, but I am sorry to say that the result is very discouraging. The original extension, which, as you know was guaranteed [by the Fishery Board], was to Coll and Tiree jointly, the Tiree office being at Scarinish. The annual expenses of that extension are something like £260. The guarantee has long since expired. We made a further extension to Balemartin in 1900, the annual expenses being £43. The annual cost of the three telegraph offices [Arinagour, Scarinish and Balemartine] may therefore be put roughly at £300. Against this expenditure, we can only set the following: revenue from Coll £37; Scarinish £56; Balemartine £23; payment by guarantors of Balemartin £10; Total £126. The extension to Balemartin hardly seems to have stimulated the telegraph business of Tiree at all, most of the business having been merely diverted from Scarinish. We are losing, in fact, about £175 a year in the two islands; and, in the circumstances, I fear that the Postmaster-General would not be justified in opening another telegraph office on Tiree.
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 12 July 1902, 5)
The following year, there was a break in the cable:
Mr Nicol, the county member, has received the following:
Dear Nicol, I much regret the inconvenience occasioned by the interruption of the cable to Tiree, to which you call attention in your letter, and I propose to despatch a cable ship to carry out the repair of this cable and other similar work as soon as the weather is favourable. I am anxious that communication should be restored at the earliest possible moment, but you will understand that work of this kind cannot be undertaken except in favourable weather.
(Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser, 28 March 1903, 5)
The cable failed again in 1912 (The Scotsman, 4 January 1912, 7) and 1924. This time, a temporary radio mast was installed beside the Scarinish lighthouse:
WIRELESS TO THE RESCUE
Scottish Islanders Saved a Winter of Isolation
The telegraphic cable that connects the islands of Tiree and Coll with the mainland sunk to the bed of the ocean. It is not probable that the Government cable ship will be able to lift the cable during the winter. The seas that run in the Sound of Gunna at this time of the year render this almost impossible. The Government wireless station on the island of Tiree is again brought into service, and thus the business of the lonely islanders can be carried out.
(Northern Whig, 8 January 1924, 10)
Image:
https://www.aniodhlann.org.uk/object/2012-10-1/
The emergency radio mast in Scarinish in 1924. An Iodhlann collection.
As always, do let me have any additional information. Previous articles in this series are available on the An Iodhlann website at www.aniodhlann.org.uk. Follow us on Facebook.
Dr John Holliday