Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

along the coast. Many of the old Lewis stone houses still stood. Archie met the bus
and took us by car the last mile to the Butt.
We had a very good dinner and then looked around the station and climbed up
to the light. A fine view showed over stormy, dark cliffs; otters played on the rocks
below. Back to the Minna in the dark. The ship was lying alongside the quay, by
then it was low tide and our berths were right next to the quay. Above us was a
pile of empty propane gas cylinders, which produced an unpleasant and
nauseating effluvia. We woke during the night with headaches and feeling sick. I
coined the term "hadal depths" and we made a joke about it, but it wasn't funny.
There was not much to report for the next two days. The shipping forecasts
were bad – very bad. Twice Minna went up to the Butt of Lewis to see what the
swell was like, but Captain Murray didn't like it and turned back; the swell had to
be suitable for landing us at Rona. The second time, on 13 October, we caught a
poacher - Valhalla - seine-netting near Broad Bay inside the 3-mile limit. We
arrested him and confiscated his gear. He had seen us go by and thought Minna
was out of the way for a while. This occupied the Captain and Officers for the
whole of the next day - writing a report and other paperwork. Morton and I went
that afternoon with Peter Cunnigham over to the West of the Island by car. We
visited Callanish Stone Circles – said to be the largest and finest in the British Isles
apart from Avebury. We also visited the Broch at Carloway, a circular tower with
hollow walls, probably a defense against marauders. People used to live in the
walls, in spiral passages; the cattle were kept in the central enclosure. Later we
visited a river and loch where Peter rents the fishing. Morton caught a sea trout at
the first cast and Peter caught a brown trout too. I had no luck. We also rowed up
and down Peter's lochan spinning, but with no luck and I had only one bite. It was
very cold. A flight of whooper swans passed over and we returned late to
Stornoway in the dark.
Finally, on 15 October we left Stornoway at 4 o’clock for North Rona. We woke
to a moderate swell, but little sea and were off the island at 10 am. The mountains
of Sutherland to the East on the horizon included Suilven and Canisp, blue-black
silhouettes sinking below the horizon as we travelled north. Gannets and fulmars
accompanied us. Rona appeared on the horizon, as two humps at first. We could
see the swell breaking on the South coast - little spurts of white spray in places, but
otherwise it looked quite promising. Captain Murray did not venture close in. We
steamed all round the island in the bright sunshine; it was tantalizing, but the
swell was still substantial and he was not willing to put down a boat to land us.
We saw Sceapul and Loba Sgeir, the western cliffs, Fianuis and the Tunnel Cave,
down the East coast, but we did not attempt a landing or even lower a boat. We
each took a number of photographs. Numerous seals were to be seen and it was
very disappointing to be returning without attempting a landing. The swell
lessened as we went South and the sea was oily-calm. A small trawler offered us
fish and we went alongside to collect it - cod. Back to Stornoway then, and we
moved aboard the other Fishery Protection vessel Brenda, under Captain
Mackinnon in the evening. Captain Mackinnon is a very forceful but quiet
personality. He came out with us for a drink at the County Hotel and we returned
to the ship at 8.30 pm. Then off we went to anchor in Loch Erisort for the night,
where it was much better than the hadal depths.
482