Unknown: Scallastle Bay, Mull, Sound Of Mull

NM63NE 8005 6953 3976

N56 29.613 W5 44.671

NLO: Scallastle Bay [name: NM 693 393]

Sound of Mull [name centred NM 58 46].

Possibly on map sheet NM64SE.

Location formerly entered as NM c. 6943 3998 [N56 29.73 W5 44.78].

Five pieces of iron ordnance have been identified at a depth of 19m (below Low Water Neap tides) on a seabed of mud and shell within the recognised anchorage area of Scallastle Bay. Three of them lie horizontally and are partially buried; the other two are set close together and project from below the exposed trunnions, the muzzles being uppermost. The seabed is evidently mobile, not all the guns being necessarily exposed at any one time.

The guns were first reported by George Foster and Bruce Campbell in 1993, and were subsequently dived by Ken Sweeney and Bob Jones in 1993, and by Philip Robertson, the Archaeological Diving Unit and others in 1995.

Direct Survey Measurement survey (by Jane Maddocks and Pamela Westmoreland, in 1996) produced an accurate plan of the relative positions of the guns. Metal detector survey in the same year recorded a further gun, a gun apron, and a further gun-shaped anomaly. Sidescan survey and sub-bottom profiling across the area are recommended.

The following locations have been recorded: N56 29.99 W5 45.9 (Decca: HMS Barclay 1994), and N56 29.637 W5 44.670 and N56 29.830 W5 44.881 (differential GPS: ADU 1995). Attempts to fix the discovery by horizontal sextant angles yielded only inaccurate results.

The guns were initially thought to be from the Dartmouth (NM74SW 8002) but are more probably to be seen as a group of mid 19th century date. Features seen as diagnostic include the angle of the muzzles, the position of the reinforcing rings, and the fittings on the cascabel ends. A Porter anchor lies about 60m to the S, and is apparently of comparable date.

The circumstances of deposition remain elusive. They may have been carried as material for scrap, ballast or deck cargo; the absence of evidence for tampions may be significant.

NMRS, MS/829/75.

Two of the guns noted by Maddocks (MS/829/75) have been identified as an Armstrong pattern gun of about 1785 (possibly manufactured by the Carron Co.) and a Blomefield gun (of a type which superseded the Armstrong pattern and remained in use until about 1805. A clay pipe bowl found nearby dates from about 1800/1830.

Two objects found loose ('mobile') on the seabed were raised and recorded; both remain in conservation. The clay pipe bowl (laboratory no. BA 853) bears the Hand of Ulster while the lead apron (laboratory no. BA 854) bears no graffiti or identifying marks.

[Image files noted on front page of report not supplied].

NMRS, MS/829/76.

Archaeological Diving Unit (ADU) attempted to locate three iron guns discovered at Scallastle Bay. The wreck was not located after days of remote sensing using a magnetometer and a three-dimensional sonar.

ADU 1991: MS 5472.

[No accurate location cited]. Scallastle Bay: a report of two guns on the seabed was investigated using both magentometer and diver searches. The absence of results indicates that the position cited was incorrect.

Archaeological Diving Unit report no. ADU 94/24, dated November 1994.

NMRS MS/5546.

The site was relocated recently and investigated by the Archaeological Diving Unit (ADU). There are three iron guns which appear to be comparable with some of those on the Dartmouth (see NM74SW 8002) designated site. Two of the guns protrude muzzle up out of the sediments. This may indicate that the guns either fell to the seabed when the vessel overset in the storm, or they were deliberately thrown over the side in an attempt to lighten the ship. No other archaeological material was visible.

M Dean 1995: MS 5472/1.

An approximate location at N56 29.73 W5 44.78 [NM c. 6943 3998] has been derived from the ADU GPS readings (noted above) for NMRS citation. This falls in a charted depth of about 23m within Scallastle Bay, which is of broad form and opens to the N. The nature of the seabed in the vicinity is not noted on the chart.

Scallastle Bay is an extensive but ill-defined embayment set into the N coast of Mull.

The broad (NW-SE) but shallow (NE-SW) embayment of Scallastle Bay offers a sheltered anchorage set into the SW (Isle of Mull) shore near its SE end. It is protected from the open Lynn of Morvern (to the E) by the Glas Eileanan islands [name: NM 714 399], and by Scallastle Point [name: NM 710 388] and its adjacent islands (to the NW). The seabed within the bay shelves gradually towards the NE, to a depth of between 15m and 18m. The seabed is charted as a mixture of sand, shell and mud.

There are several fish cages within the bay.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 22 August 2003.

UKHO chart no. 2390 (1976, amended 1991).

(Location cited as N56 29.613 W5 44.671 [NM 6953 3976]).

Information from Mr K Sweeney and Mr G Foster, per Mr S Liscoe, 16 August 2008.

The location cited by Mr Sweeney and Mr Foster is accepted.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 26 August 2008.