The Navy, the Coastguard, and WWII - 1

From Ricky Clark

For a long time - well according to the date on some of the .303 ammunition cases, since 1942 - an area known as the Singing Sands, a beautiful and remote sea shore beach with large sand dunes, has watched the world and time go by. Visit the area and you could easily believe that you are on some far off Caribbean shore. This splendid isolation betrays the history of the area dating back to 1942 and the years leading up to that date. Some of you may have recognised these dates as being in and around the time of the Second World War: if you did, go to the top of the history class, well done.

During this time the Navy and Army used the area for target practice, and for landing assaults, practising for the real thing on the shores of France. At these times real ammunition was used for this training, no blank rounds or fire crackers, but ships pounding the beach and shore with large shells, boats firing mortar rounds of all types, and heavy machine guns strafing the beach and dunes. Hopefully no holidays makers were out having picnics!

Then the bugle sounded and all the forces left for the real thing, leaving the tranquillity of Ardnamurchan behind for the ravaged shores of France and the final acts of the invasion of Europe in an effort to ensure the freedom of the western world. The Singing Sands quickly reverted to being the quiet, tranquil place it had always been. Soon nature put back to rights the mess that had been made: the wind began to fill the shell holes; the soil began to be fertilised by the return of the birds, pine martens, otters, and badgers; the grasses began to regrow, the wild flowers sprouted, and further back the trees began to recover. Soon the place was looking as pristine as it ever had.

Then with time and tide the dunes would move, a big storm would ravage the shores in a quieter way than the bombs did but would bring the war games back to us by revealing the leftovers of these very important training exercises: empty machine gun and rifle rounds began to be uncovered; bits of shrapnel appeared; but most dangerously of all live mortar rounds were beginning to come to the surface. Over the years there have been visits by various military bomb disposal squads to the Singing Sands but these were mainly to deal with munitions that had been discovered by a member of the public whilst enjoying a day on the beach.

So it was decided that investigations had to take place to find the extent and the amount of munitions that may still be lurking under the sands. Warnings were posted on the approaches to the area, and other means used to inform the public that, although the Singing Sands were open, care had to be taken when moving around the area and any munitions that were found shouldn't to be moved or taken away as there was always the chance that some of these very old and unstable explosives might cause harm or even, it has to be said, death.

Come Monday 30th April 2012 a team from the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Squad based at Faslane arrived to do one of the largest assessments of the area ever undertaken and to clear any munitions that they might uncover. Local Coastguard teams from Mallaig, Salen and Kilchoan were tasked to assist the Navy team in securing the area in the event of finds being made, in cordoning off an area that would be used to dispose of the finds, and in ensuring that no member of the public was put at risk during this event. Mallaig and Salen teams covered the task from Monday to Wednesday; last Thursday and Friday it was Kilchoan's turn.

To be continued....

Pictures: Top - the beaches shown on a Google satellite map. Middle - Gortenfern, picture by Paul Howes, with thanks. Bottom - the Singing Sands, picture by Ricky Clark.