Local Postcards - 3

Many thanks to Ritchie Dinnes for letting me use two of the postcards in his collection.

This one, taken from the rocks to the southwest of Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse, shows a pedestal in the foreground, which I take to be the old sundial.  There's no date on the postcard - has anyone any idea of when it was taken?

This one, taken a couple of years ago, isn't from quite the same angle but does show the changes.  The pedestal has gone, the Principal's house (left), the air and water tanks, and the small storage building have been added.  There are also many fewer chimneys on the keepers' cottages.

This postcard shows the SV Ardnamurchan.  Built in 1890 by Russell & Co of Port Glasgow, she had a length of a 259ft and a beam of 38ft.  The steel sailing ship was built for Hugh Hogarth of Ardrossan, later sold on through two more owners, and finally broken up in 1926.  There are more details here.

Many thanks to Ritchie for the pictures.

Holly Cottage for Sale

Holly Cottage, in the heart of Kilchoan near the parish church, is being sold by MacPhee & Partners.

Details of the house, which has views across Kilchoan Bay to Mull, is also on rightmove.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 8, Under Tow

At 2.00pm it looked a if, despite deteriorating weather conditions and a southeasterly wind at force 5 or more, the Kingdom of Fife might bring the Lysblink Seaways under tow, but suddenly....

....the small boat which has been in attendance since this morning came scurrying in to the pier to pick up what looked like rolls of the white absorbent boom material, taking them out to the ship.

The Forth Jouster, which had been astern of the Lysblink Seaways, seemed to pull the stern round while the Kingdom of Fife dropped back into the calmer water formed by the ship's hull.  They remained like this for a while before....

....at just before 4.00pm, the Kingdom of Fife finally took the strain and began to tow the Lysblink Seaways out into the murky conditions in the Sound of Mull.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 8, 2pm Departure

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency have just issued the following Press Release:

The Lysblink Seaways is going to be moved this afternoon after a successful ship-to-ship transfer of the fuel oil.

Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage & Intervention has authorised the move which is expected to begin around 2pm today (25th).

As bad weather has been forecast for the coming days, a risk assessment has been carried out and the decision taken to move the vessel into a more sheltered position.

The tug Kingdom of Fife will tow the Lysblink Seaways out of Mingary Bay which is 1.5 miles east of Kilchoan Pier to safe anchorage in Scallastle Bay.

It will take between four and a half to five hours to complete the 17 mile journey. The Temporary Exclusion Zone of 200 metres will still apply to the vessel while she is being moved.

This decision has the full support of the Scottish Environment Group and Marine Scotland.

The Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) Herakles will remain on standby but will be released once the Lysblink Seaways is in a safe position.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 8 Morning

At 6.30 this morning, in calm weather, we could see that the transfer of fuel hadn't begun as the two tugs lay seaward of the Lysblink Seaways, with the Forth Jester further into the bay to the north of her.  Last night we'd had a report that the tug Luca would be carrying out the tow once the fuel was offloaded.  A check on the AIS website found her passing through the Pentland Firth with the Sound of Mull as her destination, due here at 7.30 tomorrow morning.

To get a better view of what was happening we walked into the area to the east of Mingary Castle, into the hills which overlook the wide bay in which the ships currently lie.

This area is part of the Ardnamurchan Estate, where some of the finest red deer stags are often to be seen.  While the Estate farms sheep and cattle, it's also one of Scotland's premier stalking estates.

The hill immediately above the ships is the site of Choire Mhuillinn, one of the villages cleared during the middle of the 19th century to make way for sheep farming - the walls of one of the broken houses can be seen in the foreground.

By this time the Kingdom of Fife was along the starboard side the Lysblink Seaways so we couldn't see more than part of her superstructure, but the transfer of fuel had obviously started.

Taken from further round and higher in the hills, this picture looks westward towards the northern entrance to the Sound of Mull, with Mull at top left and Kilchoan Bay at top right.  This section of coast is one of the most beautiful on Ardnamurchan, a series of bays which, in contrast to the sands of Sanna, are shingle.  We walk here often, and hardly ever see another soul - yet it's one of the best places for seeing sea otters, and....

....both sea and golden eagles are often in the skies above Maclean's Nose.

Returning along the beach, we could see the Kingdom of Fife alongside.  By this time the southeasterly wind was beginning to pick up and it had started raining.  The wind is forecast to increase and come steadily round into the south-southwest, with gusts to gale force by midnight.  The forecast on XC Weather for the next few days isn't much better, and that for Monday is terrible - strong west-northwesterly gales gusting to force 12, hurricane force.