Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Eureka - 59781

What began with the discovery of two seafaring brothers who died on consecutive days in September 1872 has developed into the story of the vessel that they were serving on at the time of their deaths.

The Eureka arrived at King William’s Dock, Dundee from St Petersburgh on 27 August 1872 with 494 bales and 1431 bobbins of flax weighing more than 170 tons.* She was owned and sailed ‘In the General Coasting Trade’ by Ewen Campbell of Scadabay, Harris but all 240 tons of this brigantine had been built in 1870 across the Atlantic in Prince Edward Island for John F Robertson.

Malcolm and Ewen Campbell appear to have been joint owners of the Eureka from the outset, Lloyd’s Register 1871 showing the owners as M & E Campbell. There were many fine sailing ships built at that time in Prince Edward Island for Scottish shipowners.

A week before her arrival in Dundee, on 20th August 1872, the Eureka had collided near Elsinore with another vessel, the Mercurius of Harlingen, and the latter ship appears to have suffered some little damage in consequence.* This was not the last incident to befall the vessel in the autumn of 1872 for on 27th September the Eureka was being towed into Yarmouth having lost her boat and sails when she struck the bar and began taking on water.*

Sandwiched in between these unfortunate accidents were the tragic deaths from smallpox of the brothers Angus and Neil Kerr on the 11th and 12th of September.

Malcolm Campbell also died a few months later on 26th December 1872 at Scadabay and at some point Ewen sold the ship and she was eventually lost in Archangel when she grounded during a heavy snow storm.

It would be a quarter of a century before another link was forged between the Campbell’s of Scadabay and the Kerr’s of South Harris, this time in the form of the marriage in 1896 of my cousin Marion Kerr from Rodel to Ewen and Malcolm’s nephew, John Campbell, eldest son of Roderick Campbell of Rodel who also held the tack of Borve, Berneray before it was rightly recrofted in 190.

Note: I would like to thank Seumas MacKinnon of Scadabay for alerting me to the fact that the vessel my relatives were sailing in was not the one owned by James Deas of St Andrew’s, and for supplying information used in compiling this entry.

Sources:

Eureka registration Prince Edward Island: http://www.islandregister.com/1870newvessels.html
Eureka Lloyd’s Shipping Register 1871-72 p197: http://www.archive.org/stream/lloydsregisters32unkngoog#page/n4/mode/2up
Ewen Campbell on Lloyd’s Captains List p19: http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsC.pdf
Euphemia, Eureka and Anna Dhubh: http://www.isleofharris.com/stories/euphemia-eureka-anna-dubh/

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk) the British Library Board

1 comment:

  1. Always a good story from you! I am related to the Campbells!

    ReplyDelete