ORKNEY 3: HEROES OF LONGHOPE

The Pentland Firth is the name of the body of water along the north coast of Scotland.  The Orkney Isles are the islands to the north as indicated in the red circle below.

The waters of the Atlantic and the North Sea sweep through this channel and in and around the Orkney Isles themselves.  There are hazardous rocks, skerries and strong tidal streams. Ships in trouble and lifeboat call-outs are part of life in these waters.

At various locations in the Orkneys, like other places in the UK, there are lifeboat stations which are  manned by volunteers.  Everyone in Britain, itself an island, is familiar with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity established in 1824) which has lifeboats all around the coast.  Those of us who sail, use ferries, go swimming or wind-surfing off the beaches know all about lifeboats! (Yes, we had one come out for us once.  Someone on shore thought we were in trouble .... we weren't but that is another story!)

Just near where we were staying at Cantickhead Lighthouse on Hoy was the graveyard with the graves of the men who drowned in March 1969: the Longhope Lifeboat Disaster. Longhope is the small village (red arrow above). The black arrow shows this Kirkhope cemetery, South Walls.

The lifeboat TGB capsized on 17 March, 1969, after setting out from Hoy in Orkney, to help a Russian cargo ship which was in distress off the shore of South Ronaldsay.  The next day, the lifeboat was found floating upside down in the Pentland Firth.  No-one survived. 

 

The memorial plaque showing the loss of all 8 crew from this small community including two instances of a father and two sons.  Photo: John

Jennifer Wrigley (fiddle),  and her sister Hazel on the piano, from Orkney, tells the story in this 6 minute video.  She has a delightful Orkney accent but even better ...  in the second half she plays The Heroes of Longhope, a beautiful slow air written by the late Ronnie Aim from Orkney ... and one that works really well with a fiddle orchestra (good harmony).

 This fine bronze statue by Ian Scott, 1970 dominates the graveyard.

It was very sad reading the gravestones.  Now, 43 years on, we see a widow of one of these men now lies in the graveyard.


The important outcome of this disaster was that it led to lifeboats being designed to be self-righting.

ORKNEY 2: BOARD OF ORDNANCE & THE BROAD ARROW

The Orkney Isles are full of historical sites to visit: ancient and modern, military and domestic.  Normally visiting a military site is not something that quickens my pulse but right next to where we were staying on Hoy was a Martello Tower ... so we decided to pay a visit. 

Hackness Battery and Martello Tower were built in 1813–14, at the height of the Napoleonic War. French and American warships were wreaking havoc on British and Scandinavian merchant shipping going north through the Pentland Firth or round the Orkney Isles. Longhope Sound provided a safe anchorage.

Martello Towers take their name from Mortella (Myrtle) Point in Corsica. They are small defensive forts built in various countries of the British Empire during the 19th century from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. There are still quite a few around.  (If you read James Joyce"Ulysses" the opening scene takes place on the top of one outside Dublin.)

We decided to take a guided tour of the barracks and the tower.  It was absolutely terrific!  And this was all because of our outstanding tour guide, Mike Webster.  He had a vast knowledge of his subject; we could have stayed all day hearing his stories and learning about for example, ballistics; the difference in hull thicknesses between British and American ships in the time of the Napoleonic Wars, design of the structure, etc. 

In the barracks there was one room where the men slept and cooked on a cast iron stove.  There were beds all around the perimeter.  On each bed was a black wool blanket with the above lettering on one corner. What did the lettering and the arrow symbol mean?

The B and O letters:

This indicates the mark of the Board of Ordnance and the 2 letters plus arrow is a very old mark meaning "Government Property".  

[Wikipedia]: "The Office of Ordnance was created by Henry VIII in 1544. It became the Board of Ordnance in 1597, its principal duties being to supply guns, ammunition, stores and equipment to the King's Navy."

Mike explained how in the past there were 4 sections to the War Department: Artillary, Infantry, Navy and Ordnance.  The responsibility for surveying was given to the Board of Ordnance rather than the Army or Navy.  (Hydrographic surveying stayed with the Navy.)

The Arrow:  

This is called a broad arrow.

 [Wikipedia continued]: "The Office and Board used the broad arrow to signify at first objects purchased from the monarch's money and later to indicate government property since at least the 17th century. The introduction of this symbol is attributed to Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, who served as Master-General of the Ordnance from 1693 to 1702, since the pheon [another word for 'broad arrow'] appears in the arms of the Sidney family.

The broad arrow frequently appeared on military boxes and equipment such as canteens, bayonets and rifles, as well as the British prison uniform from the 1870s, and even earlier, that of transportees in British penal colonies such as Australia."

The broad arrow marks were also used by Commonwealth countries on their ordnance.  An example of this is when "the broad arrow was used by the British to mark trees intended for ship building use in North America during colonial times. Three axe strikes, resembling an arrowhead and shaft, were marked on large mast-grade trees."  Details of how this practice was used and abused and what it contributed to is here.

With the demise of the Board in 1855, the War Department and today's Ministry of Defence continued to use the mark. The arrow also appears in the Ordnance Survey logo.

And that leads on to the topic of BENCHMARKS (here).  I have seen them around but never knew what they were.  Resolution: get some photos and add them here.

ORKNEY 1: CANTICKHEAD LIGHTHOUSE

Orkney is one of my favourite places and no more so than when on holiday enjoying the beautiful northern latitude lighting in summer.

 

Mairi, John and the children and Iain and I spent the first week of our 2 week holiday in Orkney at Cantickhead Lighthouse on the south-east tip of Hoy.  The map below the lighthouse photo indicates the location.

It faces the Pentland Firth (the body of water on the north coast of Scotland) and like all the lighthouses in Scotland is unmanned.  There were 2 lighthouse-keepers cottages for holiday let and so, with the help of the internet, I booked one for a week.  I have decided in my old age to be like the long-haul pilots who retire to fly a desk; I want to sail a lighthouse.  By that I mean I want to be on the sea but warm and dry and firmly anchored at night!

 John and Mairi with Ishie (5) and Alastair (4)

 Morning coffee looking out over the perimeter wall to the sea with its birds, porpoises and occasional fishing boat going by.  Photo: John

 

On our last evening there Iain got out his pipes and was a huge hit with the owners, Nadia and Tom, as well as Belgian visitors in the other cottage.

 

Left: Mairi and the Belgian ladies enjoying a glass of wine; Iain in the background and the children and I jigging it up on the big H of the helicopter pad.   Photo: John

I took this video of Iain playing a pipe march.  All of this is done on my iPhone ... amazing!

 This sundial on the back drying green has the inscription " Our Time to Stand and Stare". 

John was out at 1 am taking photos.  This shows the wonderful evening light looking north over Scapa Flow.

We all agreed that we would go back again!   We were very impressed with the facilities. There was a separate, very tidy, laundry room and a special facility, "the parrafin room" which Nadia had filled with children's bucket and spades, games, books, videos (even!), outdoor chairs and bikes. There is a general store at Longhope for supplies and petrol.  Access to Hoy can be done by car ferry from Houton to Lyness.

HOME FROM HOLIDAY FLOWER SHOW

We are now back from the Orkney Islands having had 2 weeks on various islands (not in the boat) with John and Mairi and the children.   

 

I have loads of lovely photographs of the scenery as well as other Orkney subjects: archaeological, wartime, domestic, bird life, farm life and lots of arty stuff.  The light in this northern latitude in midsummer is wonderful when it comes to taking photos or, if you are a painter, sitting at an easel with a paintbrush!

John took some stunning digi photos! I would like to incorporate some of them in my holiday story as they are definite "keepers"!

First things first: the garden upon our return ....

 

While we were having mainly dry and often sunny days the central belt of Scotland as well as deepest Englandshire have been having days ... weeks of rain! Yes, the roses are bashed in the garden but there are enough, like these, which show they are survivors!

I was delighted to find the eryngium I planted a year ago has flowered mainly, I think, due to the shovel-fulls of horse manure from Willie's farm.

There are lots of lovely cornflowers which I brought on from seed.

Under the washing line is gypsophilia (Baby's Breath) which did not do anything last year. Now I will have some to add to cut flowers for the house.

And speaking of the washing line .... There is always that pile when you get home....

Mairi's lupins are survivors too.  Note the pollen sac on the bee!

Bashed roses with broken stems are fine in a bowl of water. This is my Oxfam glass vase I keep on the window sill with a collection of simple glass coloured ornaments in it.  The kids love it and like to add things to make new "arrangements".

Meanwhile adjacent to our garden is my neighbour's lovely flowers.  I don't know what this is but it is Iain's favourite.

Lastly Jack's grand show of begonias, started early in the year in his greenhouse, keeps the rest of us on the street on our toes!