CHAPTER ONE

This is the story of an Island, Eilean nan Ron ("The Island of the Seals"), commonly known as Island Roan. I shall be referring to it as I go along as "The Island".

Once it was the home of a compact community surrounded by the unending music of the sea - a people with sheep and boats. They harvested from the land and from the ocean. Today, on the green plateau above the dark cliffs, stand the empty houses, clearly visible from the mainland. The island and the sea, with its music, remain, but the people have gone. How did it happen? Well, come with me in my story.

It is a small island of about 700 acres, and is a mile from the mainland at its nearest point. Its coastline is very rocky and high, and at some points the cliffs rise to several hundred feet above the sea. It is mostly covered with peat and heather, and there are several springs of good clear water. In the driest of summers there was never a shortage of water. According to record, the first settlers on the island were at the time of the Clearances in the early part of the 19th century. But there is a legend that the first person to live there was an outlaw, banished from the mainland. He was said to be a reiver or pirate, and a very wily one he was, too. Supplies of food were taken to him from time to time, but he was never allowed off the island. He was able to collect driftwood, and he soon built himself a boat, in which he started to raid the mainland. He went raiding as far as the Orkneys. He painted his boat white on one side and red on the other. People watching would see a white boat passing along the coast and later a red one sailing in the opposite direction, and so they never knew it was the same boat; in this way he baffled his pursuers.

But the first authoritative island inhabitants were three young couples who came down to the coast from the glens and made their way to the Island. They reared families and so the habitation of the island began. Soon several acres of the best land in the centre of the island were brought into cultivation, and limited numbers of cattle and sheep were maintained at first. Later, however, the islanders were permitted to summer the cattle on the mainland, and so they were able to increase the numbers. But fishing was the island's mainstay. However, as was the case all round the northern seaboard, the boats were small, around 35 feet in length, and only the fore-half had decked accommodation. With these sailing boats the islanders went as far as Stornoway on the west coast, and Wick on the east coast. In the second week of May all the able-bodied men left one at a time. Because of the smallness of the boats their earning capacity was limited so around the year 1870, the Duke of Sutherland gave the islanders a brand new boat, fully decked, to be paid for in yearly instalments according to their earnings. They named the boat the Duke. A few years later the islanders bought another boat of the same kind, to meet the needs of the growing population. With the larger and better equipped boats they were much more successful. Eventually they bought two new and much larger boats, well over 50 feet in length, with a steam capstan for hauling the nets. Fishing was now much easier, and about 1905 the steam drifter came on the scene, and it was clear that the days of the sail-boat were nearing to an end. Five years later the islanders chartered a steam drifter, with which they carried on until the First World War. They went after the herring all the year round, first on the west coast of Scotland for a month or so, operating from the port of Stornoway and from Mallaig; then on the east coast from June to September. After a short rest, while the boats and gear were being repaired, they set off to the East Anglian fishing at Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, up to the end of November. In the earlier days when the cattle were ferried across to the mainland, they were driven for several miles inland into an area called in Gaelic the "Airigh." There bothies of turf and stone were built, and were known as Sheilings.

The young women of the island tended the cattle all summer. They milked the cows, made butter, crowdy and cheese, and preserved it in small kegs provided for the purpose. This was to last them all winter on the island. During a short period at the beginning of October the men went seal hunting. That was the time of year when the seals had their young in the numerous caves around the island. After a fortnight the mother could take her youngster out to teach him the art of swimming and fending for himself. I remember as a boy, on fine sunny days, visiting the baby seals sleeping on the rocks around the island. We used to catch them with the greatest of ease as they had no sense of fear at that stage. We would carry them home in our arms to play with for a while. We tried to tame them but it never proved successful. They would eat nothing but fresh fish, and that was not always obtainable. There were hundreds of seals around, and they could be shot and killed at any time of the year, but it was the bull which the islanders were after. Although the bull was always distinguishable from the female, he was never easy to catch. Even when shot he would wriggle into the sea and finally drown. The blubber of a drowned seal is always slightly tainted and would not preserve so well. Hence their reasons for catching them on dry land.

The only time this could be done was when the seals were having their young. The bull almost always attended his spouse at that time, and therefore could also be found in the cave. He could be killed with a club quite easily, but both the bull and the female could be quite dangerous when cornered. The bull, if not swiftly knocked out, would attack immediately. By properly organised expeditions, the islanders were able to get the seals they wanted. The blubber was melted down, put into bottles and used for the cattle and sheep throughout the winter. The islanders would also take a small drop of the oil themselves, and the older folk, to help their rheumatics, would rub some of the oil on the affected part, and would claim it was doing them good.

There lies to the north-west of the main island another small island, where, in a cave the seals have their young. This cave is completely closed at its entrance by the sea, except at the height of the spring tides and at full moon and new moon; even then it is open only in a half-moon shape, for about half an hour. Minutes before it opens and closes again it gives forth an enormous sound similar to an airplane close above. Inside, the cave opens up into a huge cavern with a large shingly beach and a very narrow slit right up through the rock for about a hundred feet to the top. It is here, then, that the seals have their headquarters. They bask in the sun on a large flat rock which lies about 200 yards out from the cave mouth. The only way to enter the cave is by raft. I remember hearing about one adventure.

The raft was made ready days beforehand; for buoyancy small canvas or sheepskin buoys were laced around the raft. On this particular trip the weather and tide were favourable, so three men set off on the raft. As the cave opening was only about three feet at its highest point, it was necessary for the men to lie flat on the raft and paddle with small paddles specially made for the occasion. Attached to the raft, for safety's sake, was a line from the boat. Along with their other gear they also had to carry a paraffin lantern as there were no torches in those days. When they reached the beach it was covered with seals, old and young. Time was very limited, so after killing six of the seals these had to be tied to the raft. This was no easy matter, and took more time than expected. Meanwhile, frantic signals were being made on the line by those in the boat - the mouth of the cave was closing. Indeed, it was closed in a matter of minutes. It was then that the three on the raft realised their desperate situation. They signalled to be pulled out, which was easily done, until they reached the entrance. Then it was a case of pushing the raft with its load under water. This could not be done without slitting the buoys and letting the air out. Consequently they found themselves sinking, raft and all. However, by desperately pulling on the line, they soon managed to surface on the outside without any further mishap. It had been a nerve-wracking experience.