Sinking of the Meikle Ferry

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Memorial plaque on the northern pier

When the Meikle Ferry in northern Scotland sank in 1809, 99 people were killed. The Meikle Ferry was a ferry service over the Dornoch Firth , it served travelers along the east coast of the Highlands until it was discontinued in 1957 .

On August 16, 1809 there was a serious shipwreck on this connection. That day a large number of passengers were waiting at the northern pier on their way south to the small town of Tain . Since there was an agricultural fair there, they also brought animals and self-made goods with them that they wanted to sell there. The ferryman allowed himself to be persuaded to take in more passengers and cargo than the ship could safely hold, and when it left the dock its railing was just above the surface of the water. The sea was calm, but then the vehicle was hit sideways by the tidal current. Water flowed into the ship, which capsized and immediately went down. A total of 99 people, including the ferryman, were killed, only a few of the passengers were able to save themselves. More than half of the drowned people came from the Civil Parish of Dornoch . One of the reasons for the high number of fatalities was that many of the passengers could not swim. The relief fund that was subsequently set up raised the astonishing sum of a good 2900 pounds within two years . About half of this came from donations from British soldiers and overseas emigrants. A memorial plaque today commemorates the event at the place where the ferry left. A memorial stone was erected in Dornoch in 1914 for the drowned Sheriff of County Sutherland , Hugh McCullogh.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ferry boat hook. Explanations of a boat hook kept in the local history museum in Dornoch, which is believed to have come from the ferry. BBC website , accessed July 14, 2016
  2. ↑ Information on the memorial stone and the transcript of the inscription on the website of the local history museum of Dornoch (English)

Coordinates: 57 ° 51 ′ 8 ″  N , 4 ° 8 ′ 30 ″  W.