Post by KG on May 24, 2018 11:52:58 GMT
Bravery and sacrifice: The forgotten sailors of Loch Ewe
Author Vanessa de Haan explores the secret history of the Merchant Navy’s Arctic Convoys in her debut novel The Restless Sea. Here she reveals her family connection to Wester Ross, and the true stories that inspired her writing.
In Wester Ross on the northwest coast of Scotland there is a place called Loch Ewe. It is beautiful, typical of the coastal Highlands: a large sea loch surrounded by sloping hills that climb away into the background until they recede into the sky. It is a peaceful place, a place for walkers and birdwatchers, where oystercatchers call as they chase each other along the shoreline, and the waves scrape across the shingle.
But it wasn’t always like this, for Loch Ewe has a secret history: during the Second World War this tranquil haven became the unlikely setting of Port A, a secret base for the Royal Navy. Instead of oystercatchers, sailors called to each other across the loch; where once porpoises played, now warships ploughed through the water.
On 14 October 1939 the Royal Oak was torpedoed at Scapa Flow, the Admiralty’s supposedly impregnable harbour and main British naval base further north at Orkney. That night, more than 800 men – of whom more than 100 were young cadets aged between 15 and 18 years old – died. The Admiralty had to find new places to hide their ships, and Loch Ewe was perfect: a deep-sea loch with a narrow mouth, which had already been used by the Fleet as a temporary base.
More at: LINK
Author Vanessa de Haan explores the secret history of the Merchant Navy’s Arctic Convoys in her debut novel The Restless Sea. Here she reveals her family connection to Wester Ross, and the true stories that inspired her writing.
In Wester Ross on the northwest coast of Scotland there is a place called Loch Ewe. It is beautiful, typical of the coastal Highlands: a large sea loch surrounded by sloping hills that climb away into the background until they recede into the sky. It is a peaceful place, a place for walkers and birdwatchers, where oystercatchers call as they chase each other along the shoreline, and the waves scrape across the shingle.
But it wasn’t always like this, for Loch Ewe has a secret history: during the Second World War this tranquil haven became the unlikely setting of Port A, a secret base for the Royal Navy. Instead of oystercatchers, sailors called to each other across the loch; where once porpoises played, now warships ploughed through the water.
On 14 October 1939 the Royal Oak was torpedoed at Scapa Flow, the Admiralty’s supposedly impregnable harbour and main British naval base further north at Orkney. That night, more than 800 men – of whom more than 100 were young cadets aged between 15 and 18 years old – died. The Admiralty had to find new places to hide their ships, and Loch Ewe was perfect: a deep-sea loch with a narrow mouth, which had already been used by the Fleet as a temporary base.
More at: LINK