Beachcombes Beware

Betty MacDougall


On the 19th August 1850, the barque Mandane of Sunderland, master George Hutcheson, was wrecked on the north side of Crosspoll Farm. The ship was bound from Glasgow to Demerara and was laden chiefly with dry goods. All the crew perished and the vessel broke up.

Acting as sub-agent for Lloyds, Neil MacClean, the farmer at Crosspoll, took charge of the wreck and stored the salvaged goods in the barn at Breacachadh. A Glasgow firm of underwriters sent an agent to Coll to supervise the sale of the recovered material. The sale took place on 25th., 26th. and 27th. September 1850 in Coll.

In the interval between the shipwreck and the sale, quite a few islanders landed in trouble with the law and some were in fact taken into custody. There was a great fuss about a tin box that had contained bolts of silk ribban and braid, each of about 16 yards. Some of the island lads had been beachcombing, found the box, broke it open and pocketed the rolls of ribbons. Lachlan Johnston of Cliad was assisting NeilMacClean in the salvage work. He heard about the box and managed to persuade the lads to hand over their pickings to go with the material for the sale.

A more unsavoury episode in the tale was a break-in to the barn at Breacachadh and the theft of some of the salvage stored there. Several houses were searched under warrant but the stolen goods were not recovered. Charges of Reset and Theft were made against two merchants living in Totronald. They were acccused of resetting a quantity of copper nails and copper sheeting from the wreck. The evidence at the enquiry gives interesting information on some of their stock of goods - tobacco, steel pens, writing paper, pocket knives, side-combs, shifts and bedgowns. No money changed hands. It was a barter exchange, goods for the nails and copper, brought in by beachcombers.

The island must have been in quite a ferment with police interrogations and house searches. The investigation went on into October, gathering evidence to present to the Procurator Fiscal in Tobermory. The two shop-keepers were taken into custody and appeared before the sheriff in Tobermory to make arrangements regarding their possession of suspect copper nails and sheeting.

The outcome is not known as the case is nut included in the Tobermory Sheriff Court Records. They are in the Scottish Record Office, Register House, Edinburgh. The cases that were investigated for referral to the Tobermory Procurator Fiscal are in the Achives Office, Lochgilphead in the care of Murdo MacDonald, Archivist.