Looking back

Just telling a few local stories over the next couple of days.

January 1962
A young couple decided to set up house in the village of Marbhig, some 12 miles south of Stornoway as the crow flies, and the boat sails. By road, the distance is closer to 30 miles. The newly weds had loaded up a boat, the Maimee, with their possessions and were going to flit to Marbhig with the aid of an uncle. On the day that they were going to move to the village, the weather was atrocious. Not a boat had left port that January day on account of a howling gale. The Maimee did set sail. Then, as now, any boat leaving Stornoway passes Goat Island and then Battery Point, before heading across the entrance to Sandwick Bay and finally out to see beyond Holm Point. The Maimee never got that far. Barely a mile out of town, her engine failed. She was driven onto the shallows of the Skerryvore, a well-known reef at the western entrance to Sandwick Bay. The boat was stuck fast, with the tide rising and galeforce winds battering the vessel. Her engine would not restart.

Residents of Lower Sandwick, on the other side of the bay, noticed flames leaping from the direction of Battery Point. Burning rags is a distress signal, if radio or flares do not work. It was not possible to approach the Maimee, as the waters were too shallow. Also, the high winds and waves made it too hazardous. The young woman was stuck in the wheelhouse and could be heard screeching frantically for help as the waters rose around her. An eerie sound, that would haunt people in Lower Sandwick for a long time. Finally, the tide had come up high enough for a rescue to be effected.

Fast forward 18 hours.

A beautiful January afternoon. Not a breath of wind, and not a cloud in the sky. Who would have thought the previous night was so atrocious. Local people can be seen walking on the Skerryvore, out towards the wreck of a boat that is stuck fast. It is the Maimee. Others can be seen on the shore at Sandwick. One plunges into the waters and returns with the body of a man. Frantic efforts are being made to revive him, but to no avail. It is the uncle.