[1] The Sheriffs-Depute of Lanark and Edinburgh.

Notwithstanding those occasional visits, however, it was not till the year 1834, that the Commissioners directed their Engineer to make a survey of the whole of this extensive reef, preparatory to taking measures for the erection of a Lighthouse on that part of it which might be found, after careful inspection, to afford the most suitable site; and, at the same time, the shores of part of the Island of Tyree were surveyed, with the view of establishing a Signal Tower for communicating with the Lighthouse, and of forming a small harbour, of shelter for the vessels to be employed in attending it. From these surveys the general view of the Reef which is given in [Plate II.], and the enlarged plan shewn in [Plate III.] of the Skerryvore or principal Rock, on which the Lighthouse has been built, were constructed.

The Skerryvore or principal Rock of this remarkable group, is situated in North Lat. 56° 19′ 22″, and West Long. 7° 6′ 32″.[2] It is about 11 Nautic miles W.S.W ¹⁄₄ W. of the island of Tyree, which is the nearest land, 20 miles W.N.W ³⁄₄ N. of the island of Iona, 33 miles S. ¹⁄₄ E. of the Lighthouse of Barrahead, the most southern of the Hebrides, and 53¹⁄₂ miles N.E. by N. of Mallinhead, in the county of Donegal in Ireland. It may also be added, that the principal rock is about 50 miles from the nearest point of the main land of Scotland. The extent of the Reef, and its situation in reference to the general position of the coast, will be best understood by referring to [Plate I.], which is a small Map of the British Isles. From this it will be seen that it lies in an irregular semicircular sea, inclosed by the southern extremity of the Hebrides, the rugged shores of Argyllshire, and the northern coast of Ireland on the one side, but open on the other to the Atlantic.

[2] According to information for which I am indebted to Captain Yolland, R.E., of the Ordnance Survey.

The importance of the Skerryvore as a station for a Lighthouse is so evident as to require but little comment. Although the smaller class of coasting vessels almost invariably sail through the sheltered Sounds of Mull, Loing, and Islay, to avoid the difficulties and dangers (Skerryvore among the number) of the rough navigation of the outward passage, yet these rocks lie much in the track of the larger vessels bound over seas round the North of Ireland from the Clyde and the Mersey. Government Cruisers and Ships of War are also necessarily often within a short distance of its dangers. But for homeward-bound vessels sailing for the Clyde, or for any of the Ports in the Irish sea, and directing their course for the North Irish Channel, the establishment of a light at this place is of the last importance. When such vessels happened to encounter bad weather before making land, and so had difficulty in ascertaining their true position in relation to the coast, they often, in the event of being driven so far north from their course, as to miss the lights of Ireland or that of Barrahead, continued their progress onwards in the direction of the Skerryvore Rocks; and thus, while running in apparent safety, and probably, from the state of the weather, not within sight of Tyree, which it is often difficult to see, they were very liable to encounter some of the many detached rocks and shoals which form this broken reef of nearly seven miles in extent.

In estimating the risks to which vessels were exposed from this cause, the peculiarly insidious nature of the danger must be kept in view. A headland, or line of coast, which rises to some height above the surface of the sea can be seen in most states of the weather, at a sufficient distance, even during the night, to enable the seaman to avoid danger; but, in approaching a sunken reef or a low rock, in the dark, there is no object to warn the crew of their position, until their vessel gets unexpectedly among breakers, after which it is generally too late to bring her round again. And even the very knowledge of the existence of a reef, such as this, often causes the seaman, in ignorance of its exact position, to give it too wide a berth; in which case his ship is liable to be carried away by the force of tides or winds, perhaps on a lee shore, where, although the crew may be saved, the vessel generally goes to pieces.

The exhibition of a Light, however, altogether changes the case. Instead of shunning as a danger those dreaded rocks, vessels will steer boldly on their course, until checked by the Light, availing themselves of which they will be enabled to lie off-and-on during the night, and so wait the return of daylight, in perfect confidence as to their position, and without the necessity of endeavouring to avoid hidden dangers. Thus, that which was formerly an obstruction and a danger, is rendered an aid and a safety, to the navigation of the western coasts of our country.

That this source of danger to shipping was by no means imaginary, and the consequent terror of mariners far from being ill founded, there is a too melancholy proof in the following list of disasters caused by the Skerryvore Rock, and the neighbouring dangers off the coast of Tyree:—

In1790.The Ship Rebecca of 700 tons lost; crew saved.
1804.Ship Brigand of Nova Scotia, Wright, master, of 600 tons, lost off Hough, in Tyree; crew saved.
1804.A Brig, M‘Iver, master, lost off Hough; crew saved.
1806.Ellen of Bath, Paterson, master, of 90 tons, lost off Balaphuil, in Tyree; one man drowned.
1809.Brig Mary, Sanders, master, lost off Balaphuil; crew saved.
1813.Sloop, Penelope of Wick, 60 tons, lost at Gott Bay, Tyree; crew saved.
1810.A Brig from New York, Greenlees, master, lost off Hynish Point, Tyree; crew all drowned.
1813.A Sloop, Eugene M‘Intyre, master, lost off Balaphuil; one man drowned.
1814.Brig, Betsey of Leith, Ross, master, lost off Hough; crew saved.
1817.A Brig, of 400 tons, foundered off Kennavarah, Tyree; crew all drowned. Numerous casks of butter came ashore.
1818.Sloop, Benlomond of Greenock, M‘Lauchlan, master, lost off Balaphuil; crew all drowned.
1819.Sloop, Bee, Coice, master, of 60 tons, lost off Hough; crew saved.
1820.A Sloop, M‘Donald, master, of 50 tons, lost in Reef Bay, Tyree; crew saved.
1820.Ship, Masters, of Port-Glasgow, Martin, master, of 700 tons, foundered off Skerryvore Rocks, and came ashore at ClateHynish, in Tyree; crew saved.
1821.Sloop, Catharine, M‘Rae, master lost; crew saved.
1821.A Sloop, of 60 tons, lost off Hough; master and three men drowned.
1825.Sloop, Dan of Campbelltown, M‘Innes, master, of 50 tons, lost; crew saved.
1828.Sloop, Delight, of 70 tons, Stevenson, Master, lost.
1828.An Irish Schooner of 100 tons, Montgomery, master, lost off Hough; crew saved.
1828.Jane of Sligo, Collins, master, lost off Balaphuil.
1829.Van Scapan of Stockholm, Fisherton, master, of 700 tons, lost off Hough; fourteen peopledrowned.
1834.Confidence of Dundee, Wesley, master, lost off Hough; crew saved.
1834.A Schooner of 70 tons, lost; three men drowned.
1835.Peggy, Bitters, master, of 500 tons, lost off Beist, Tyree; crew saved.
1841.April 2. Majestic of North Shields, Tait, master, of 400 tons, foundered by a sea off Boinshly Rock, and cameashore at Gott Bay; captain and four men washed overboard and drowned, and the mate and one seaman had their legs broken when the vesselwas struck by the sea.
1842.Fleurs of Liverpool, Thomson, master, of 300 tons, lost off Kennavarah; crew saved.
1842.March 14. Two deck beams, a knee, and some pieces of deck-plank of a North American built vessel, came ashore at Clate Hynish.
1842.A Barra Boat wrecked, and four corpses washed ashore; two men, a woman and a child.
1842.Pieces of wreck were seen in the Sound of Coll, and at the same time the shores of Tyree were strewed with candles, mostly of wax,supposed to be altar candles for the West Indies.
1843.September 2. The Prussian Barque Formosa, of 326 tons, P. R. Reick, master, lost off Hough; two seamen drowned.
1844.December 1. The Hull of a Sloop of about 70 tons, was washed ashore off Clate Hynish. The Hull was very much broken up bybeing in contact with the rocks; and one of the planks, apparently off the taffrail, had the words “Port of Dundee” lettered upon it; the crewsupposed to be all drowned.

This list is made up chiefly from data kindly furnished to me by the Rev. Neil Maclean, the Minister of Tyree and Coll, whose long residence on the former island has afforded him ample opportunity for making observations on the subject. It is not to be imagined, however, that Mr Maclean’s list, which is made up from recollection, contains a full catalogue of the disasters caused by the Skerryvore, within the dates which it cites. Very many vessels were wrecked on this dangerous reef whose names could never be learned, and of which nothing but portions of the drift wood or cargo came ashore; and there have, no doubt, been many shipwrecks of which not a single trace has been left. Nothing, indeed, is more probable than that many of the foreign vessels whose course lay through the North Irish Channel, and whose fate has been briefly and vaguely described, as “foundered at sea,” have met their fate on the infames scopuli of the Skerryvore. It is also well known that the Tyree Fishermen were in the constant practice of visiting the Skerryvore, after gales, in quest of wrecks and their produce, in finding which they were but too often successful.