Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Better Days: the wreck of the Hyacinth


The Mull ferry's foghorn reverberated backwards and forwards between the unseen cliffs that back the Sound of Kerrera. At Ardantrive Bay we came across the sad remains of Hyacinth that was wrecked on the rocks after catching fire on the 28th April 1920. She was an iron motor drifter under the command of Captain Buchan. She was built in 1901 and was 21m x 6m with a gross weight of 39 tons.


Under the clear water we could still make out the lines of her barnacle encrusted keel and bulwarks and then, as we drifted in the ebb tide, she was lost in the fog.