World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Date 16 August 2013
Event ID 963315
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type World War One Audit of Surviving Remains
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/963315
The island was first manned for defence on 16 March 1915, when 72 NCOs and men from the Royal Garrison Artillery in Leith crossed to Inchcolm and Inchmickery. On Inchcolm they were to man a battery of eight 12-pdr Quick Firing guns (see NT18SE 22.02) and two or three Defence Electric Lights (powerful searchlights to illuminate targets at night, see see NT18SE 22.08). These guns and lights were explicitly intended to ‘cover’ the anti-submarine boom that controlled access up the Forth from this point. A map of August 1915 (The National Archives WO 78/4417) shows the location of the eight guns, as well as the layout of the men’s accommodation. Two of the guns were placed in the western part of the island (“H” Group) and six in the eastern part, around the summit of that part of the island (“O” Group facing north; “M” Group facing NE and “L” Group facing SE). The Battery Command Post and the Electric Light Director were behind these six guns. The 1915 map shows three electric lights, all in the eastern part of the island, one at the northern corner, at two at the eastern tip.
The battery of two 12-pdr guns that were emplaced on the west part of the island, had a shelter, ammunition store and ‘earth closet’.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 16 August 2013.
