Taking the 'Crest' home...

It is the Monday 26th of October 1896 and we are observing a vessel preparing to go to sea from the harbour at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. She's a yard or so under 60 feet in length and her twin masts, the larger in front of the smaller, identifies her as a ketch rather than a schooner. It is 34 years since she first felt the salty kiss of the sea around her Manx-formed curves and, having been laid up for several months since the death of her previous owner and watching the hustle and bustle at Thomas Telford's 'Fisherman's' pier not knowing when or indeed, if, she would feel the wind in her neatly stored sails again.

The three men who were now busy readying those sails to once again harness the power of the wind to drive her forward through the waters of the West coast of Britain were all older than she was and knew their roles inside out. The two younger men, in their early forties, were both Stornowegians who had spent their previous voyages on a pair of steamships, the 'Alice' of Stornoway and the 'Clydesdale' of Glasgow for as the end of the 19thC loomed, so did the end of the era of sail. King coal, that had powered the industrial revolution in Britain, was now extending its empire to include the waters of the ocean that had previously been the province of sail and oar alone.

The old man, who was already as old as his companions at the time of the birth of the 'Crest', had joined her from the small sailing sloop 'Jessie' of Stornoway. This Hearach, now in his 70s, was the Mate or Bosun on board but, as father of her Master and Owner, he was in all respects the senior member of the crew. The 'Jessie' had been in the family for at least 20 years and this little 30 ton Fraserbugh-built ship had been well into her forties by the time that they had looked to replace her. The old man had heard of the 'Crest' on the Gaelic grapevine and they needed a larger, faster vessel if they were to remain competitive in the coastal trade. Her Master needed rid of her (he had already had to write to the Burgh of Tobermory apologising for not having completed the required documentation for the first six months of the year) and so she was to be had for a very good price.

Having found her, the old man sent word back to Stornoway that when his son and their friend John Macleod had finished their steamship duties, they should hasten to Mull to collect the new prize. This duly happened and thus it was that on that Monday morn the final rope was let slip and, gently, slowly, and carefully the 'Crest' set forth on the remaining years of her life.

This first voyage was in fact a swift one to Larne for lime. They covered the 130 Nautical miles (150 land miles) within a day, arriving in Ireland on Tuesday. Whether it was 13 hours at 10 knots, 26 hours at 5 knots or some other average speed we cannot know, but we do know that they remained in Larne until Saturday 14th of November, perhaps delayed by loading, perhaps by the weather, when the 'Crest' left for Gairloch on the Scottish mainland. She didn't reach Gairloch, a distance of perhaps 220 Nautical miles, until Tuesday 24th November which is a clear indication that the journey took place over several 'legs' with shelter being taken along the coast along the way. This reminds us that these small coastal vessels were able to explore the remote regions quite ably and provided a valuable service to the inhabitants of these isolated communities. A few hundredweight of coal could be loaded into the ship's boat and delivered to a coastal cottage, news given and received and who knows what other small trades took place! The news could spread in this way at surprising speed and, whilst there was the postal service, an enormous amount must have been delivered in this manner amongst the oral Gaelic landscape at a time when the reading and writing of English was far from ubiquitous, especially amongst the more mature residents?

Whatever occurred during those 11 days at sea, most of the lime appears to have been unloaded at Gairloch and by Monday 30th November the men were rested and ready to make the short hop of 30 Nautical miles across the Minch to Tarbert on Harris which they reached the following day.

There followed a week on Harris, plenty of time for the old man and his son to reacquaint themselves with their relatives on the island including the old man's eldest son at An-t-Ob, his nephew at Rodel and his sister-in-law at Direcleit to mention just three of the families still there. It is altogether likely that the new vessel was welcomed into the family with due celebration!

On Tuesday 8th December 1896 they said their farewells and made the journey up the East coast of Harris to the new home of the 'Crest', Stornoway. All three men returned to their homes in the town more than six weeks after having slept in their own beds.

The old man and his son were looking forward to 1897 and what it would bring them and their new travelling companion, the 'Crest'...

Note: This is my interpretation of the known facts which I have embellished in parts to create a (hopefully!) more coherent narrative.

NEW! - Gaelic Place-Names Site

A new online resource is being developed (i.e no 'Direcleit' yet!) and can be accessed here:

http://www.ainmean-aite.org/index.asp?lan=en

This is potentially of enormous value, Enjoy!

Lime from Larne

I have long wondered about the Crest's cargoes and had erroneously suggested that she may have been taking on coal in Larne. In fact, Ireland has very little coal (although there were a few working mines there) and the trade in coal went in the opposite direction from the massive coalfields in the West of Scotland.

Thus the voyages of the Crest to and from Larne, proceeding there unladen and leaving with a load, led me to investigate what commodity that part of the North of Ireland produced that would have been required in Scotland, both on the Mainland and in the isles. I discovered this interesting reference to lime which was used for cement, whitewash and to neutralise acid soils.

Similarly, in November 1897 she took on cargo at Carrickfergus, taking it to Loch Maddy in North Uist and then (unless she swapped cargoes!) the remainder to Tarbert in Harris. My guess is that this cargo was rock salt from the vast mines as recorded in this BBC clip .

The other port in Ireland that was visited was Belfast but in that case it appears that goods were only being imported there for she appears to always have left unladen, collecting any cargo from neighbouring Larne.

Note: Here are the recorded voyages of 1896-1899:
http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/02/crest-official-number-44427-47-net.html
http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/03/crest-final-voyages-1898.html
http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/07/crest-voyages-of-1899.html
Summary Map:
http://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/07/ports-visited-by-crest-1896-1899.html

'Welcome Home' - Topsail Schooner of Stornoway

This vessel gets a mention in my previous piece on Seafarers From Harris for, in 1891, she was in Leith North where her Master was the 35 year-old Hearach Kenneth Macleod.

I have today received a copy of Robert Simper's 'Scottish Sail - The Forgotten Era' and on p60 is a picture, almost a silhouette, of her approaching harbour in the Dornoch firth. Apparently this topsail schooner was built in 1881 in Stornoway so a quick perusal of the Ship Builders of Stornoway reveals the most likely builder to have been young Donald Mackay Mackenzie.

She is a truly beautiful ship with a sensuous, sinuous clipper-bow and a slender bowsprit that curls like the bill of a Curlew. Her octet of sails hint at the power and speed of this most attractive vessel.

Kerr Occupations 1841-61 – A Regional Comparison

The figures in brackets are the number of Kerr folk found at each location:

1841	Harris (65)	Other Inverness (29)	Ross (28)	Argyll (192)	Sutherland (242)
Carpenter or Joiner	2	1	0	1	1
Mason	1	0	0	0	0
Shoemaker	2	1	0	5	0
Tailor	1	0	2	0	0
Weaver	0	0	0	1	1

(The one Tailor on Harris appears as a 'Tenant' on the census but I know my great, great, great grandfather
John was in fact a Tailor at this time – it demonstrates that this data is subject to all manner of 'noise' – and the same is true of the one Mason who was Peter, the Dry Mason who moved to
Argyll between 1851 and 1861)

1851	Harris	Other Inverness (46)	Ross (23)	Argyll (255)	Sutherland (171)
Carpenter or Joiner	2	0	0	4	1
Mason	1	0	0	2	0
Shoemaker	2	0	0	4	0
Tailor	1	0	1	0	0
Weaver	1	0	0	2	0

(Also a 'Teacher of English' on Barra and a Farmer's Widow in Borve)

1861 (52)	Harris	Other Inverness (69)	Ross (43)	Argyll (251)	Sutherland (225)
Carpenter	1	0	0	1	0
Mason	0	0	0	1 (b. Harris)	0
Shoemaker	2	0	0	1	1
Tailor	1	0	0	1	1
Weaver	2	0	0	1	0

I think it is clear that the concentration of these particular occupations in the small population on Harris demonstrates a cluster compared to the wider region.

The table also suggests that, if these records in any way can be used to reveal a trail left as crafts were passed from father to son (although I have included one Weaveress from 1861!) then Argyll is the most likely source for that trail.

I know this contradicts my recent focus upon Sutherland but I hope it also demonstrates why I am looking
outside Inverness and Ross as likely origins for the Harris folk?

My quest continues...

The Age Gap - or, where are all the 60 & 70 year-olds?

In 1841 there were no Kerr folk on Harris in their 60s or 70s. None.
In the surrounding areas there were between 8% and 12% of such people in their populations which, if translated to the situation on Harris where there were 65 Kerrs, means that we would expect to see perhaps half-a-dozen people of that generation.
Instead, there is a gap between a few in their fifties and one lady, Chirsty of Taransay, who is said to be 80.
If they were a settled population going back a couple or more generations then we would surely expect at least one person in this age group to have been present? I think this is clear evidence that those in their 40s and 50s (born 1781-1801) amongst the population of 1841 were in fact the first generation to be born on Harris and that it was their parents who came to the island attracted by the call for craftsmen that went out when Macleod began his Improvements in the 1780s.
These parents would have been of Chirsty's generation (she herself may have been the mother of Roderick of Rha and others) and thus it is less surprising that they were no longer present by 1841. My own ancestors, Malcolm Kerr and Effie Shaw, parents of John and Angus, were of this generation and are the only ones whose children survived, or remained on Harris, beyond 1855 and the introduction of Statutory Registration. Hence my being able to identify them from their sons death certificates. If they had any daughters then, sadly, I would have to examine every female death of those born, say, 1780-1820 from 1855 onwards in the hope of discovering them beneath their married names. The same is true for the others of this 'original' generation.
A task too far!

If anyone can suggest another explanation for this unusual feature then I would be delighted to hear from you, but I think that mine is the simplest to fit the known facts, including the activities being undertaken on the island at the time?
"Captain Macleod also encouraged shoemakers, weavers, turners, wrights and masons to settle down at Rodel." (John Lanne Buchanan quoted in 'Travels to terra incognita', Martin Rackwitz 2007)


"he alfo encouraged a great many artificers; as fhoemakers, weavers, turners, and wrights, and mafons" (John Lanne Buchanan in his 'Travels in the Western Hebrides: from 1782 to 1790')


Note: There are two records from the 1851 census that show ages of 74 and 77 (and therefore people who would have been in their 60s in 1841) but the one who survives until the 1861 census resorts to a birth in the late 1780s so I think the 'gap' as described is real rather than merely an artifice of the records.

Population Table - Kerrs of the West Coast

Note: Columns are for Inverness-shire then Harris within that county, Ross-shire and Lewis within that county; for Inverness-shire & Ross-shire combined and the number & proportion deriving from Harris & Lewis. These are followed by the numbers for Argyll-shire and Sutherland-shire and the total for all four counties:

Census	Inverness-shire	Harris	Ross-shire	Lewis	I&R	H&L	%	Argyll-shire	Sutherland-shire	Total
1841	94	65	28	0	122	65	53.3	198	242	562
1851	93	47	23	3	116	50	43.1	255	171	542
1861	116	47	43	7	159	50	31.4	251	225	635
1871	104	36	20	6	124	42	33.9	169	225	518
1881	97	24	19	6	116	30	25.9	249	217	582
1891	74	23	35	10	109	33	30.3	220	193	522
1901	60	17	37	11	97	28	28.9	196	159	452

(I have prepared charts from this data but am struggling to get 'Blogger' to accept them!)

I have restricted my examination to these four counties because, as can be seen on this map ,  they form the mass of the (Gaelic-speaking) West Coast of Scotland. Caithness did support a small population and their occupational range is quite similar to that on Harris but the pattern of names is different. A similar result was found for Argyll-shire.

The firsr feature that strikes me is that we start with over half the population of Inverness-shire and Ross-shire being due to those on Harris. This strongly suggests to me that the name was not native to those counties and hence we need to look further afield.

The figures exhibit greater synchronicity between Sutherland and the Inverness/Ross population than do those for Argyll which form a cyclical pattern. There is also greater similarity amongst names, such as Angus and Roderick, in the three counties with others such as James and Peter appearing in Argyll. (Interestingly, there was a Peter in Harris in 1841 but he later moved with his family to Argyll). If male names form a chain back into history, then  there is stronger evidence suggesting that it snakes back to Sutherland than anywhere else.

All this has to be taken with a ship-load of salt but I am leaning towards the idea that a family or two moved from Sutherland to Harris (including Taransay) by the early 18thC and settled there but that a range of circumstances (Clearances, Emigration, non-marrying males & a lack of male heirs) led to the name's demise on Harris.

Those who left the island, whether to Canada, America, Australia, England, Argyll or, indeed, Lewis, were slightly  more successful in continuing to add links to the chain...

Update: This PDF makes the point rather well - it 'feels' like the Harris families, but in Stoer (and a few other places in Assynt, Sutherland) and with a larger overall presence in the population: http://rogart.fileave.com/HMD%20MARRIAGES.pdf

Sutherland, perhaps?

In attempting to discover where the Kerr families of Harris may have originated, I have been re-examining the records for the four counties of Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Argyll & Sutherland and that remains very much a work in progress as I have yet to analyse the data from Christian names.

However, this afternoon a friend alerted me to some evidence given to the Napier commission by Murdoch Kerr, 55 a Crofter's Son, formerly a Fisherman, of Auchmelvich in Sutherland.

His testimony paints the usual bleak picture which Murdoch presented to the commission in a written document titled 'Auchmelvich Township Grievances' but it is the following exchange that caught my attention (Murdoch's replies are in italics):

27631 You name is rather uncommon? - It is a strange name in the place.

27632 Are there several more in this place of Auchmelvich? - Yes.

27633 Do they all belong to the same clan? - No, they are separate families.

27634 Are they long here? - My ancestors have been here for seven hundred years, the Kerrs to whom I belong.

27635 What family were in possession of Assynt at that time? - I cannot tell.

27636 Do you, and the people in your place, look with favour upon the large sheep farms? - We would rather not see any in the country.

(I included 27636 because of its comprehensiveness - they did't want such farms anywhere in the land!)

So, what does this brief exchange have to tell us?

Firstly, two years earlier the 1881 census recorded 32 families in Sutherland headed by a man called Kerr and  3 of these were Lowland families which accords with Murdoch's comment that they were not all of the same clan but represented different families.

Secondly, at least one branch of the Sutherland Kerrs had been there since the 12th or 13thC, a remarkable fact that is testament to the oral tradition in Gaelic communities.

I don't know if the Gaelic Harris Kerrs originally were from Sutherland or Argyll, Ross-shire or Inverness-shire (or indeed elsewhere in the Highlands) but Murdoch offers the tantalising thought that a left-handed Highlander may have excelled himself on the field of battle in the Medieval period and established a line that leads all the way down to the left-hander typing these words...

(Note: I apologise for that brief lapse into Romanticism. It may happen again...)


Update: Almost two-thirds of the Kerr folk in the censuses living in Sutherland were living in Stoer and some 80% of households in the county headed by a male Kerr were there too.
Stoer is less than 3 miles from Murdoch's home in Auchmelnvich.


Note: Full Transcript can now be read here.

Cart Drivers of Lewis and Harris

These young men, aged from 15 to 20, are those recorded as being Cart Drivers in the 1841-1901 censuses:

1841 - None found

1851
Murdo Morison, 19, Keith Street, Stornoway, b. Lochs
Malcolm Maclean, 16, Bayhead Street, Stornoway, b. Guershader

1861
Donald Mckay, 17, 4 Garynahine, Carloway, Uig, b. Uig
Mal Mcarthur, 16, 23 Calanish, Carloway, Uig, b. Uig
Murdo Mckenzie, 16, 28 Calanish, Carloway, Uig, b. Uig

1871
Donald Mciver, 15, 33 Cromwell Street, Stornoway, b. Stornoway

1881
Malcolm Mciver, 20, Gress Farm, Stornoway, b. Stornoway
Angus Graham, 16, 96 Tolsta, Stornoway, b. Stornoway

1891
John Smith, 16, Stornoway, b. Stornoway
John McDonald Macaskill, 18, Grieve's House, South Harris, b. Harris

1901 - None found

Quite why there was a blossoming of carts in Uig in the 1860s (and a corresponding lack of them in Stornoway at that time!) is a mystery, as is the non-appearance of Barvas where the records tell us there were several Cartwrights. I suspect that cart driving was undertaken rather more widely by members of the farming community and that these records reflect more upon adolescent male attitudes to having a set of 'wheels' rather than being a true indicator of cart usage at the time. In fairness, being allowed to be in charge of such an expensive piece of machinery would also have been an honour and one that the young men would have probably been keen to see recorded.

Piper at the gates of Warwickshire

I was doing a little research into some of the smaller isles around Harris when I happened upon an interesting entry from the England census of 1881:

Angus Macrae, 25, Piper (Musician), Newbold Revel Hall, Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, b. Ensay, Inverness-shire, Scotland

The Hall had been bought in 1862 by Burslem-born Edward Wood who, in 1869, was the High Sheriff of Warwickshire but had been a Magistrate in Devon two decades earlier.

In 1871, 14 year-old Harris-born Piper Angus Macrae was living in the Farm House of Balranald on North Uist which was home to JP and Farmer Alexander Macdonald, aged 40.

In 1861, an 8 year-old Angus Macrae is living on the Island of Ensay and is the youngest of the six children of Boatbuilder, Christopher Macrae.

Quite what route Angus took in travelling from the tiny island of Ensay, via the Farm in North Uist, to the Justice of the Peace's home in England is unknown but I always like discovering these unusual instances in the records and thought that I'd share this one with you.

Angus, by the way,  is the only person I can find in England who ever gives 'Ensay' as their birthplace.

Update: I have been informed by the people at http://carmichaelwatson.blogspot.com/  (who are researching the work of Alexander Carmichael) that Edward Wood was the owner of the Island of Raasay in 1861 which explains why he was employing a Piper from the isles.
I am very grateful to Dr Donald William Stewart for supplying me with this detail.

Geology again (plus a useful link)

Found this interesting PDF on the Geology of Harris: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/7490/1/CR07032N.pdf.
It includes a colourful map and is particularly helpful for the interested amateur as it was written for Harris Development Ltd, whose site I notice has a list of island boats listed by SY (Stornoway) Registration Number .

North Direcleit looking South-East (ish)

A panoramic view over Direcleit with Scalpaigh (Scalpay) in the distant mist in the left, followed by the closer dark mass of Sgeotasaigh (Scotasay) , the small Eilean a Ghuail at mid-left and finally the  large Eilean Mor tucked behind the tiny, tail-like  headland. The track that snakes its way over the hill between the cliff on the left and the outcrop to the right leads from Cadha (perhaps half-a-mile behind us) to the houses clinging to the shore of Ob Liceasto. It is the path that, for example, the children would have taken each day to attend school in Tarbert. Two ruined buildings lie in the foreground at the right and centre.

Rural Wrights of Lewis & Harris

These are the only men occupied as Wrights resident outside the Parish of Stornoway from 1841-1901.
It is clear that only Barvas maintained Cartwrights for the whole of the second-half of the 19thC and that two families, the Gunns and the Murrays, specialised tn this craft. Uig and Harris show no Wrights and Lochs makes but one brief appearance on the scene.

1841 - None recorded

1851
John Gunn, 36, Cart Wright, North Dell, Barvas, b. Barvas
Lachlan Mackinnon, 50, Cartwright (Employing 2), Grosebay, Harris (Visitor), b. Harris

1861
Farquhar Murray, 31, Cartwright, North Dell, Barvas, b. Stornoway

1871
Farquhar Murray, 39, Cart Wright, North Dell, Barvas, b. Ross-shire
John Gunn, 54, Crofter and Cart Wright, north Dell, Barvas, b. Barvas
Angus Murray, 27, Cart Wright, South Dell, Barvas, b. Barvas

1881
Murdo Macelod, 56, Wright, Calbost, Lochs, b. Lochs
Allan Gunn, 27, Cartwright, No 10 Cross, Barvas (Visitor), b. Barvas


1891
Farquhar Murray, 58, Cartwright, North Dell Road, Barvas, b. Stornoway
Donald Murray, 24, Cartwright, North Dell Road, Barvas, b. North Dell
Donald Dunn, 35, Cartwright, North Dell Road, Barvas, b. North Dell
Malcolm Mcdonald, 35, Cartwright, Township Road Crofters Houses, Barvas, b. Ness, Lewis

1901
Donald Gunn, 44, Crofter and Cartwright, 28 North Dell, Barvas, b. Barvas