Oban – part 2
with toothache. Sailed in fine style up Kerrera Sound, and anchored off south pier at Oban in seven fathoms.
‘Instantly, after making all snug, the steward went in search of a dentist. A bald-headed man said that Dr MacCalman was better than any dentist, and we found him - big and burly and very Scotch. He extracted the molar. The steward desires it to be recorded that he took it like a hero, but declined the extraction of a second. After lunch we all went up to a strange new round building, built by McCaig in memory of himself. The skipper went on to see an ancient round tower, and then we had a large tea at the Station Hotel, where we got a Scotsman and a Times; these hinted at an unpopular budget which relieved no one but the landlords’.
On Friday September 11, a fisherman on a vessel called the Industry from Castlebay, gave the skipper a large mackerel in return for a pot of hare soup before he made for Canna, which he had never seen before. He landed and talked to a group of fish-curers from Barra. Apparently they had very little English, but one of them pointed to a big tear in Lynam’s trousers and immediately brought out needle and thread and sewed it up for him. Mr Thom, the owner of the island, directed him to an old cross inscribed with unrecognisable names on one side, which he sketched. He then made friends with William Campbell, the pier master, who was making hay.
‘Next he climbed the rock on which was a ruined castle. Campbell went aboard. He admired Blue Dragon and told the skipper all about the castle including a story of how Macleod of Barra stole his girlfriend from the castle where she was incarcerated when she managed to let herself down into a boat using a rope made of blankets.
‘The next day saw Blue Dragon on Rum and Eigg, the day after crashing into a rock just before entering the harbour. The centre plate chain was lost in the process. Lynam recorded; ‘I steered in, a sad and crestfallen skipper and went ashore, and though it was Sunday, the inhabitant of the nearest cottage, Sandy Mackinnon gave me a hand and spent the night on board with me. In the morning the carpenter Dugald Macleod came on board and with skill and hard work got the plate into its case. I could in no way persuade Sandy and Dugald to take any payment for all their trouble. This was the first of many kindnesses I have received from them. I spent the night in Sandy’s cottage by his peat fire. The hens that were roosting at the back of the bed woke me up in the morning, whilst the dog had kept me company. Sandy took me in the evening to hear Campbell play the pipes at the post office. On Friday I went back in the Gael leaving James Campbell and John MacDonald, the lobster fisherman, to sail the Blue Dragon to Oban at the first opportunity.’
To be continued.