Today I found myself working at the very mysterious Meikle Ferry – or as it was once known – The Ness of Portnaculter. The Ness was formed by glacial deposits that jut out into the Dornoch Firth near Tain, which formed a narrow stretch ideal for operating a short ferry from Sutherland to Easter Ross.

The ferry is first recorded as operating through a charter in 1560 to reduce the travel time significantly between Dornoch and Tain. By the 19th Century, the boat was big enough to transport cattle, carts, horses, and passengers across the firth, although it was preferred if the cattle swam across!

On the 16th August 1809, there was a lot of activity on the crossing as people and animals made their way across to the fair in Tain. The boats operating the crossing were in a poor state of repair, according to accounts at that time, but still, more than 100 people boarded the ferry, urged on by the Sheriff of Dornoch and without resistance from the apparently drunk oarsmen who struggled to operate the craft under such conditions. Nevertheless, the boat departed from the Sutherland side of the firth, sitting low in the water. When it hit the main current, a wave swamped the craft, and in the ensuing panic, the whole thing capsized. There were 111 people aboard, 12 of whom were rescued, and the remaining were all lost, with bodies being recovered for some time after the disaster.

I didn’t know what the structure standing on the shoreline today was, obviously long since abandoned from use and it looked to me to be a World War 2 era structure. Just down the road are a set of what appear to be wartime bunkers/accommodation structures. When I got home, I looked up the history of the building and found that it was an Air/Sea search and rescue base which operated through the Second World War.