Tag Archives: skiffs

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2021.54.39

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Transcript of a Police Report and Precognition of Witnesses regarding the sudden deaths of John Mcdonald, Lachlan Macdonald, Donald McDonald, John Orr and John McLean in April 1860.

The men left Manal on 27 April 1860 to fish ‘Relstay fishing bank’ near Stevenson’s Rock (described as four miles south west of the Skerryvore Lighthouse) on the fishing skiff ‘Father & Sons’. They were likely capsized whilst attempting to return home the following morning.

Statements are provided by:
Marion Macdonald (widow, Balemartine. Mother of John Macdonald)
Mary McInnes or McDonald (wife of Lachlan MacDonald, Mannal. Aunt of John Orr, who resided with her)
Janet Kennedy (wife of Lachlan Macdonald, Balemartine)
Ann Macquarie or Macdonald (widow, Balemartine. Mother of Lachlan Macdonald)
Flora Macdonald (widow, Balemartine. Mother of Donald Macdonald)
Donald McLean (Manal. Father of John McLean)
Charles Maclean (fisherman, Balephuil)
Archibald McLean (Balephuil. Brother of Charles Maclean)
John Black (Balephuil)
Nile (or Niel) Maclean (fisherman, Balephuil)
Finlay Fraser (Detective Constable, Tiree)
Lachlan McDonald (shoemaker, Manal)
John McLean (crofter, Balephuil)

Click to read a transcript of this item.

From the liveArgyll Archives in Lochgilphead, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.

 

2021.54.30

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Transcript of Police Report and Precognition of Witnesses regarding the sudden death of Archibald MacInnes and Charles MacLean in February 1860. MacInnes and MacLean drowned when a wave hit their boat while fishing for lobsters on an open skiff near Bealach na Ciste on the Isle of Soay. Duncan MacInnes (brother of Archibald MacInnes, Ruaig) survived the accident. The report contains descriptions of clothing on the bodies of the sailors. Copies of the registrations of the deaths are also included.

Statements are provided from:

Duncan McInnes (fisherman, Ruaig)
Alexander MacLean (shoemaker, Ruaig)
John McInnes (tailor, Ruaig. Father of the deceased)
Niel McLeod (fisherman, Ruaig)
John Lamont (fisherman, Ruaig)
Donald McInnes (fisherman, Ruaig)
Archibald McInnes (fisherman, Ruaig)
Finlay Fraser (Detective Constable, Tiree)
Malcolm Livingstone (Registrar, Tiree)
Flora McKinnon or McLean (wife of John McLean, Ruaig)
Hugh McKinnon (fisherman, Ruaig)

Click to read a transcript of this item.

From the liveArgyll Archives in Lochgilphead, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.

2021.54.13

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Transcript of a letter sent to Henry Nisbet, Tobermory Procurator Fiscal, from William Wilson (Registrar, Tiree) dated 11 March 1857. Wilson writes to report the deaths of three Tiree men – Lachlan MacDonald (crofter, Caolas), John MacDonald (farm servant, Caolas) and Hector MacDonald (fisherman, Caolas) – when a fishing skiff capsized two miles off the south coast of Coll on 3 March 1857.

Click to read a transcript of this item.

From the liveArgyll Archives in Lochgilphead, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.

 

2021.54.9

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A transcript of the Inventory of Precognition regarding the deaths of nine fishermen in the Balephuil fishing diaster. This document provides statements from witnesses to a great storm in July of 1856 which claimed the lives of nine men from Balephuil: Archibald McLean (age 50), Donald McLean (aged 29), Colin McDonald (aged 40), Alexander McDonald (aged 42), Neil Kennedy (aged 18), Hugh Kennedy (aged 14) and Hugh McKinnon (aged 14), John Campbell (aged 29) and Malcom McArthur (aged 55).

Statements are given by witnesses to the tragedy as well as by relatives of the deceased, including: Malcolm McDougall (Fisherman, Balephuil); John MacPhail (aged 23, Fisherman, Balephuil); Isabella Black or MacLean (aged 40, widow of Archibald MacLean); George MacLean Esq (Tenant, Hynish); William Wilson (aged 28, Surgeon, Scarinish).

Click to read a transcript of this item.

From the liveArgyll Archives in Lochgilphead, made available through the Written in the Landscape project.

2005.138.1

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Neil and Donald MacKinnon of Brock in their skiff, the ‘Tunnag’

Photograph of Neil and Donald MacKinnon of Brock in their skiff, the ‘Tunnag’, in the 1930s.

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Courtesy of Mr Alasdair Sinclair

Neil MacKinnon, holding aloft a lobster, and his brother Donald, both from Brock, are pictured in their skiff, the ‘Tunnag’, in the early 1930s. The old men were very fussy about placing the single-entrance creels precisely so that the entrance faced the rocks where the lobsters were hiding.

Their great-nephew Alasdair Sinclair remembers, as a ten year old boy, having the job of rowing the boat while Neil placed the creels. The ‘Tunnag’ was eight feet wide with long, narrow-bladed oars. While he was trying to manoeuvre the boat, the pernickety old man would be saying, ‘Chan eil sin ceart idir. Feuch a-rithist e!’ (That’s not right at all. Do it again!)

Lobsters often hide inshore at low tide in small crevices in the rocks called ‘faichean’. Knowledge of their whereabouts were kept secret and passed down through the family.

Black and white photograph of Neil and Donald MacKinnon of Brock in the early 1930s.

L-R: Neil MacKinnon of Brock, holding aloft a lobster, and his brother Donald, both from Brock, in the skiff `Tunnag` in the early 1930s. (Neil and Donald were brothers of Alasdair Sinclair`s grandmother.)

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