Remembrance Sunday 2009

Following the interest shown in my missive about the SS Ashbury, I returned to Mount Vernon cemetery to looking into the other war-graves.

One other ill-fated ship which passed the north coast was the  DS Freidig (previously called the Melsomvik) of the Norwegian Merchant Fleet, and operating out of Haugesund. She was was transporting grain from Aberdeen to Liverpool when she floundered off Cape Wrath on 7 February 1944.

The Thurso life-boat, under the coxswain John McLeod was summoned and soon found a life-boat with five dead sailors onboard. Two living crewmembers were found on another lifeboat, and rescued. The remaining 26 crewmembers never were found, and presumed lost at sea.

For his outstanding seamanship, McLeod was awarded the RNLI’s Bronze Medal as well as the British Empire Medal.

The above graves contain the mortal remains of: Petter Ellefsen (b. 13 August 1884); Anton Dahl (b. 9 May 1900); Oskar Ehnsbom (b. 5 February 1906); Haakon Storsten (b. 13 January 1883).

Meanwhile, former public school boy, now university student, Philip Laing is told to expect a gaol sentence following his conviction for outraging public decency.  He had been photograph’d urinating on a war-memorial in Sheffield.

The Band of Orion Tightens Around Caithness…

… oh, for the sweet influences of Pleiades.

There was a light frost in the north-facing part of the garden this morning, but a much heavier one is coming down.  The gritters were out in town for the first time this year, and walking down to Tescos to buy milk this evening, I looked across the Thurso skyline to see a fog hugging the contours of the rooftops.

Dunnet Parish Church

© Central Caithness Churches.

Although the balm of autumn has been blown away, an area of high pressure remains over Caithness.  With my bicycle working again, yesterday I took a bicycle ride to Dunnet from Thurso.

I marked my turn-back point with Dunnet Parish Church.  Part of the central grouping of parishes for the Caithness Presbytery of the Church of Scotland, it is nestled by St John’s Loch at the base of Dunnet Head; making it the most northerly church on mainland Britain.

Records of a Christian site date from between 1223 and 1245, and the present building with a W tower is assumed to have been constructed by the 16th Century at least before Reformation due to the number of gravestone of that period in the graveyard and of its medieval monastic architecture.   The N aisle, however, was added in 1837.

It is noted for, between 1601 and 1610, having been the parish church of Timothy Pont, alumnus of St Andrews University and Alfred Wainwright of his day.  His sketchings and observations of Scotland in the 1580s and ’90s became part of Joan Blaeu’s Atlas Novus in 1665, some five decades after his death.

They are accepted as being the earliest known examples of cartography of a modern country compiled from actual survey, and display in minute details many architectural and topographic features; although, in many cases, these are recognizable from certain angles and vantage points.

Very little is known about Pont the man and, apart from his maps, the only monument to him is a marble placque in the church grounds.  At the time of his ministry, his brother Zacharias was minister for the adjacent Bower Parish.

From Caithness to Lake Huron

© Seaview Farmhouse.

Like many of the harbour villages up-and-down the southern coast of Caithness, Lybster was formerly heavily dependent on the herring industry, and was where the outdoor filming of the 1947 version of Neil Gunn’s The Silver Darlings took place.

The actual village is just off the A9 road, and it can quickly be seen that the narrow streets would be wholly unsuited for a modern dual-carriage way.

The above photograph shows the harbour light, surely one of the prettiest harbour lights in northern Scotland. Construction of a wooden pier was first recorded in 1810, with the current harbour being first laid out in 1849.

In 1882, when the harbour light dates from, it was substantially renovated at the expense of the 6th Duke of Portland, who was Lord Lieutenant of Caithness from 1889-1910.

Lybster is twinned with Mackinac Island on Lake Huron, in recognition of Lybster-man, Lieutenant General Patrick Sinclair who was responsible for the construction of Fort Mackinac during the American Revolutionary Wars.

He died in 1820, and is buried at Lybster.

Ross Institute, Halkirk

© Copyright Phil Williams and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Okie cokie, I have given up getting my camera fixed any time soon, but have enjoyed the sense of community with City Daily Photo, so am going to combine a journal of my regular doings or thoughts with piccies of the Hyperborean North which I locate on the Internet.  Full credit will be given to the authors where known.

Last night was a crisp clear sky, with an almost full moon visible over Thurso Castle from my house.  Although Thurso did not have a ground frost, it was felt at Halkirk (and which I cycled through today).

The village claims to be the first planned village in Scotland, but I have not seen definate proof of this.  It is certain, though, that is is based on a grid-plan design and of 18/19th Century construction.  The above photograph is of the village hall, or the Ross Institute constructed with a legacy from the Ross family in the first decade of the 20th Century.

The clock was the first electronic tower clock to be installed in a Scottish building, and the statue in front which represents Sorrow was erected in 1922 following the Great War.

Where the Bones of the Earth Show Through

Originally uploaded by Shandchem

 

 

 Probably deriving from the Gaelic for Monk’s Field (ach a’ mhannaich), the formation is some 4,000 years old. This indicates both the adoption of pre-Christian religious sites by early proselysers, as well as the appropriation of pre-Gaelic sites by the incoming Gaels (including the name of Caithness, itself).

Ten minutes drive north of Latheron on the southern coast of Caithness, the Achavanich standing stones are 36 in number and in a low-lying horse-shoe shape.

No Man Is An Island…

(Copyright Transport Cafe.)

… unless his name is Freddie Stroma.

Along with Swona, Stroma is one of the two islands in the Pentland Firth, and is situated about two miles off of Gills Bay in Caithness. Swona is administratively and historically part of the Orkney Islands, whilst Stroma is historically part of Caithness and, now, administratively part of the Highlands. Various pieces of popular history attribute the difference being to which supported snake-life (Stroma) and which did not (Swona).

Formerly, it supported a population of some 500, but since the 1960s has been uninhabited. Seen from the shore, it gives a melancholy look as empty houses built from the sturdy Caithness stone remain. It is now owned by a Caithness farmer who uses it for sheep grazing; as well as a conservation area. Although, not too bizarrely, plans have been mooted to make it a half-way point in a submarine tunnel linking Orkney to the mainland.

A number of ferocious tidal features are present in the Pentland Firth, including a tidal race which traces between the north and south ends of Stroma. The northern point is at Swilkie Point, which is reputed to be the site mentioned in the Old Norse poem, Grottasöngr as the magic mill where the salt of the sea is ground. The sea-king, Mysing had stolen a magic quern from King Frode.

Mysing’s land, connecting Stroma to Swona, sunk under the weight of the quern, but the sound of the mill is still heard beneath the waves.

Inverness Public Library

Taken 06/02/08 © Copyright OLU and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

A bit off my stomping ground. What is now Inverness Public Library, an A-listed building, was initially Farraline Park School (aka Dr Bell’s School), part of a bequest by the will of philantropist and educationalist Dr Andrew Bell. Bell was the originator of the Madras system of education (and reason for there being a Madras College in Fife), in which teachers taught the most able boys who, in turn, taught the less able. Joseph Lancaster modified this to result in the Monitorial system.

Construction in Greek revival style, under the direction of William Robertson of Elgin (who was also responsible for the first post-Reformation Roman Catholic Church for Caithness, St. Joaquim’s in Wick), commenced in 1839 and was completed in 1842 after Robertson’s death.

The building ceased to be used as a school in 1937, and was transferred to municipal control as well as a Police station.   It became a library in 1981.

I did take a photograph of the whole building at the time, but cannot locate it (hence my being grateful to Zyzzyzyzzzyyyzzzyyyyzzzzy at Inverness Daily Photo). What did interest me were the symbols at the top of the drainpipes:

Stars/Shields of David.  How did they get there?  Anyone?

William Paul Getty 1918-1945

(Copyright Round UK Cruise.)

There is some real dross on the Internet, but sometimes one encounters a throat-catchingly poignant glimpse into another’s private grief.

In one of my first snaps for Thurso Daily Photo, I displayed the graves, in Thurso Cemetery, of two of the 40 merchant seaman and one Royal Navy seaman who perished in the largest single non-hostile loss of life of the Merchant Navy during the Second World War. The tramp steamer, the SS Ashbury had gone down with all hands on the night of 7/8 January 1945 at Tamine Bay in northern Sutherland (see wreck report).

One of the dead was the 26 year old Chief Officer, William Paul Getty: son of William Frederick and Josephine Getty; husband of Erena Marjorie Getty.  An annotation has just been made by his widow’s great-niece. I have moved this to this missive.  Billy’s crewmates who lie beside him are:

ANDERSON, Chief Engineer Officer, ROBERT, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 59. Son of Robert Robertson Anderson, and of Mary Ann Robertson (nee Mathews); husband of Laura Anderson, of Liverpool. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 24.

BUCKLE, Assistant Cook, STANLEY HILTON, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 18. Son of Florence Buckle, of Stockton-on-Tees. Sec. E. Joint grave 20.

CAUCHI, Fireman and Trimmer, CARLO, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 42, of Malta, G.C. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 22.

FALZON, Fireman and Trimmer, CHARLES, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 43. Sister of Rafael Camilleri, of Paula, Malta, G.C. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 18.

FLETCHER, Able Seaman, JOHN, D/JX 443735. H.M.S. President III. Royal Navy. lost in S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). 8th January 1945. Age 20. Son of John and Sarah Fletcher, of St. Helens, Lancashire. Sec. E. Grave 26.

JAMES, Second Officer, IVOR MORGAN, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 51. Son of William Ingli James and Ellen Augusta James; husband of Alma Glencoe James, of Barry, Glamorgan. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 22.

KELLY, Sailor, JOSEPH STANLEY, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 24. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 22.

MERCIECA, Greaser, EMMANUELE, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 41, of Sliema, Malta, G.C. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 18.

MacARTHUR, Fourth Engineer Officer, ROBERT DAWSON, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 23. Son of Robert Dawson MacArthur and Dora MacArthur; husband of Margaret MacArthur, of Linthorpe, Middlesbrough. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 24.

PORTELLI, Donkeyman, C, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 47, of Quendri, Malta, G.C. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 18.

ROBINSON, Sailor, JOHN BERTRAM, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 22; husband of Phyllis Robinson of Middlesbrough. Sec. E. Joint grave 20. (According to the ships Crew Agreements, John Robinson left the ship at Middlesbrough on 2nd October 1944)

SKILLEN, Sailor, CHARLES, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 20. Son of David and Mary Skillen, of Middlesbrough. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 24.

ZAHRA, Fireman and Trimmer, PAUL, S.S. Ashbury (Glasgow). Merchant Navy. 8th January 1945. Age 52. Sister of Mary Zahra, of Malta, G.C. Sec. E. Coll. Grave 18.

My camera is out-of-action for the moment, so I cannot return to take a photograph of his actual grave, but I will do so if she wishes and would be happy to relay any information which may be in the local records.

I often joke that I dress like someone from an episode of Foyle’s War (one of the older characters), but nothing I have experienced comes close to the determination and sacrifice offered by the real individuals they are based upon. Billy, although he was younger than I am now, was in a position of considerable authority and responsibility. Tens of thousands more young men and women like him saw similar.

Furthermore, I am relatively unusual in that I have no close male relatives who fought in either of the cataclysmic conflicts of the first half of the 20th Century.  Both my grandfathers were just too young for the Great War, and just too old for the Second World War; and they had only sisters.

Billy would have been born in the year the Great War ended, to a woman who may have seen male relatives killed.  Her sense of relief would, just two decades later, been tempered by the opening of the second act and, as the end was in sight, the death of her son.

An early episode of Foyle’s War featured a UXB team, lead by an affirmed pacifist who had reasoned he could serve and assist his countryfolk without compromising his principles.  I do not know what Billy’s views on armed-conflict were, but the Merchant Navy arguably provided a similar service; and was, proportionately, more dangerous than the armed-forces.

What a crushingly sad story.

שנה טובה ומתוקה

שנה טובה ומתוקה

Originally uploaded by Efrafan Days

(Taken on Thurso beach.)

Please join me in giving the year 5769 one last kicking to ensure it’s utterly dead.

Please welcome the year 5770!

As Amos Oz nearly said, this is the day on which Jews – religious or secular – commemorate the time when the Greeks or Persians or Romans or Assyrians stole a ram’s horn.

Now, where are the pomegranates and honey and apples?