The Mayflower Story

It was late September 1952 when the Mayflower, a 23ft open boat, set out from Skigersta pier on the hazardous trip to the rocky North Atlantic outcrop, on what was to be her last voyage.

The Mayflower had been built in the style of the traditional Sgoth Niseach, but of smaller dimensions than the full-size Sgoth. She was owned by a number of Adabrock and Eorodale families and was mainly used for inshore small-line fishing round the Butt of Lewis. Based at Skigersta and crewed by men who were well used to the sea-conditions, the Mayflower was an important source of income for the families. There was no shortage of fish, and many will recall with nostalgia the fine catches of cod, ling and haddock that were sold throughout the villages. That was in the days before the rich inshore fishing grounds were plundered to satisfy the voracious catching power of the bigger boats.

In his book Sula, John Beatty offers the following description of the island: “Sula Sgeir is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. A storm-lashed rock, barely half a mile long and ringed by cliffs 200 ft high, it rises from the North Atlantic some forty miles beyond the Isle of Lewis…a bleached and naked whalebone of rock rising in a spine of sheer cliffs, a forgotten and ancient citadel for seabirds….”

The four men who were on board for that fateful voyage were: Murdo Morrison, 150 Cross Skigersta (Jellicoe a' Ghladstoin, 14 Adabrock); brothers Donald Morrison 12 Adabrock, (Domhnall na twins) and Angus Morrison, 60 Cross Skigersta (Aonghas Bàn) and 24 year-old Hector Morrison of 7 Eorodale (Eachainn Chalum Eachainn), who was the mechanic charged with looking after the motor. They all had many years of fishing experience under sail and knew the dangers they could encounter on a trip of such distance.   The Mayflower was powered by a 4-stroke Ford inboard engine. The inboard motor was fairly innovative for a boat of Mayflower’s size but it was well proven and reliable enough for the 6-8 hour trip to Sulasgeir. She was also rigged with a traditional sgoth dipping lugsail.

For several weeks in late August and early September 1952, the wind direction had been unfavourable for a landing on Sula Sgeir. The wind changed to the SW on Monday 15 September, but there was some concern that it was late in the year for a guga hunting trip.  Another boat, the MFV Màiri Dhonn, a much larger decked vessel based in Great Bernera, Lewis, was also ready for a trip to Sulasgeir with a crew from Port of Ness. It looked like the last opportunity of the year to secure a good catch of the young solan goose nestlings (guga); prized by Niseachs and an essential source of winter food. It should be noted that back in the 1950s life was quite harsh and families were generally quite poor in rural Lewis, although not poverty stricken, and the guga was a necessary part of the winter diet and a source of income for the men prepared to take the risks involved.

The Mayflower tied up at Sula Sgeir.  In 1952 she would be swamped and lost at this same landing place only 4 short years after being built back home in Ness. The decision to go to Sula Sgeir was probably made early on the Monday. Some stores were loaded, such as fresh water, clothing and fuel. As the crew prepared to leave, they realised that none of them had a watch, so James Finlayson of Skigersta loaned them his father's gold pocket watch. Before his death a few years ago – the last survivor of the Mayflower crew who became stranded on Sula Sgeir in 1952 - Hector Morrison (Eachainn), retold the story for the Ness Historical Society’s newsletter, Criomagan, in 2002 - the 50th anniversary of the event:

"The night we left was the darkest night I have ever seen - no moon or stars - just sheer blackness. We took turns on watch - two at a time. On the last watch with Donald I thought I could see something approaching us - just a black shape which seemed to be getting closer. Donald could see it as well and eventually as it got a little lighter we realised it was Sulasgeir, so the compass was quite reliable. The first compass we tried had been from Taigh Gheadaidh (Geadaidh’s house). I think Geadaidh had died in 1912 and that was probably the last time it had been used!  But we decided to take one from Taigh Deelidh (Deelidh’s house). They were both card compasses, but the Deelidh one responded quicker to the motion of the boat."

"When we arrived we started harvesting the catch straight away - it was just going to a be a ‘raid’. The Mayflower could carry 400 birds and we were expecting to have that by the end of the day on Tuesday and head back home.  We had them all on the ledge ready to load but the wind had backed SE, straight into the cove where the boat was anchored. The Màiri Dhonn had arrived after us, but there were seven of them harvesting and they managed to load 800 on to the boat and moved further out."

On board the Màiri Dhonn were Owner/Skipper George Clark, an Edinburgh business man; Kenneth Morrison (Am Brownie - 3 Knockaird); brothers John Murdo, William and Donald MacLeod (balaich an Mhurdo - 4 Port (their father John Macleod had built the Mayflower at his Port of Ness boat yard in 1948); Angus Smith, 9 Port; Murdo Campbell, Knockaird; Donald Murray, (An Gaisean, 19 Port;) John Macleod (Seonaidh Chaluim, 19  Port); Angus MacDonald, 14 Port; Donald MacAulay and Murdo Maclennan, both of Kirkibost (Bernera).

The Màiri Dhonn with its crew of 12 was sheltering in the bay, but conditions were deteriorating and they had to move into open water. They could do nothing for those ashore and, knowing that they were relatively safe on the island, decided that the best course of action was to head for Lewis and raise the alarm.  Throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday the backwash from the rocks was gradually flooding the Mayflower. There was no let up in the storm and at 4pm on Wednesday the vessel swamped, turned turtle and broke loose.  The men were marooned with little food and took shelter in the stone bothy to assess their predicament.  Eachainn recalls the struggle to save the boat:

"We fought hard to save her through the night on Tuesday and into Wednesday but the conditions were such that we couldn't hold her. Every painter we secured was broken with the motion of the sea - eventually we just let her ride in and out on the swell but we couldn't hold her. We were exhausted and soaked through. I don't remember being cold though. She capsized on Wednesday but we were still seeing her the following day floating in the cove. All we could do then was retreat to the bothy and huddle in there."  

From then on it was a matter of waiting and eking out the meagre rations. The guga proved to be helpful, as Eachainn described their uncomfortable time on the rock during the storm:

"They were to be very useful to keep the fire going and feed us during the days we were stranded there.  Every time the fire went low we just threw another guga on it and man you've never seen flames like it!  We had very little food so we had to eat the guga, but we were also short of fresh water and we were just using the same water to cook every meal and you can imagine what it was like after a few days. Fortunately there was a galvanised bucket there and we cooked them in that over the fire. It was the lack of water that was the main difficulty. We had taken a supply of water with us but we had left it in the boat. We only took enough ashore for the day. By Friday our lips were beginning to swell."

The Màiri Dhonn arrived in Stornoway shortly before midnight on Wednesday and by late on Thursday the weather had moderated a little and the Fishery Protection vessel 'Minna' left for Sula Sgeir followed later by Stornoway Lifeboat.  Eachainn recalled what happened:

"The Fishery Cruiser came first and was able to communicate by semaphore with us - we had no radio - fortunately Dòmhnall na Twins had learned semaphore in the RNR.  The cruiser decided to try and launch their motor boat but the weather was just too severe. The Stornoway Lifeboat arrived in the morning at about 7am at high water, but the landing ledge in the cove is more accessible at low tide so he waited till around midday. First of all he thought he could come close enough for us jump on board, but it was just too dangerous - he could have lost the Lifeboat. He then let her in slowly on the anchor and got a line ashore. It was a very tricky operation in the conditions. We then secured ourselves to a line, to be dragged one-by-one through the water onto the lifeboat."

The last to leave the island, skipper Murdo Morrison, secured the borrowed gold watch round his neck. One of the officers on board the 'Minna' who observed the rescue said at the time "The cox of the lifeboat did a wonderful job. It was the finest piece of boat handling I have ever seen." Coxswain Macdonald was later awarded an RNLI medal for the rescue.

News reached Ness through the 'trawler band' that the men were safe but that the Mayflower had been lost. The final journey home from Stornoway to Ness was by road courtesy of Calum Macleod of 116 Cross Skigersta Road, Ness (Calum Drogaidh), who had left Ness for Stornoway when he saw the Lifeboat passing the Butt on its return journey.

Despite their ordeal the rescued men were determined that another Mayflower would be on the stocks at the boatyard, and within a year Mayflower II was launched and can still be seen at her home port, the small fishing harbour of Skigersta in the north east corner of Ness. Unlike her namesake, she has never made the 40 mile trip to Sula Sgeir.