Rifle: Loch Arkaig
Steam Launch (20th Century)
Site Name Rifle: Loch Arkaig
Classification Steam Launch (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Rifle
Canmore ID 302190
Site Number NR46NE 8001
NGR NR 49 67
Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/302190
- Council Argyll And Bute
- Parish Jura
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Argyll And Bute
- Former County Argyll
NR46NE 8001 unlocated
NLO: Loch Arkaig [name centred NN 06 91].
Possibly on map sheets NM99SE, NN09SW, NN18NW, NN18NE, or NN19SE.
(Classified as iron steam launch: date of loss cited as 1939). Rifle: this vessel sank in Loch Arkaig during breaking-up operations. All gone to Irvine Maritime Museum [Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine].
Built 1861. Length: 12m.
(Location of loss cited as N55 50.00 W6 0.00).
I G Whittaker 1998.
The map sheet assigned to this record is essentially arbitrary.
The remains of this vessel are on display in the Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine (NS33NW 63.00).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 January 2010.
The stern section of the iron-hulled steamship Rifle is on public display in the Linthouse building at the Museum's Irvine site. This vessel was acquired by the Lochiel Estate for use on Loch Arkaig in the 1860s. The place and date of her construction are unknown, as are the builder and original owner, but we do know that she was transported from the Clyde into the Caledonian Canal and brought ashore at Bunarkaig at the mouth of Loch Arkaig. She was then towed by horses, with her hull sliding over oak rollers to the loch.
Rifle was in general service on the loch, ferrying goods, passengers and mail between isolated dwellings around the loch and linking them with Clunes and Achnacarry. The vessel also carried hunting parties as guests of the estate, and Queen Victoria travelled onboard in 1873, an outing which is recorded in her diary accounts. There was some level of logging activity in the vicinity of the loch, so the vessel was also used to tow log booms.
Rifle continued in this service until 1938 or 1939. At the time she was to be broken up. The engine was removed, but before breaking could continue she sank, and was not recovered. During the Second World War she was blocking the pier, so commandos either blasted or pulled her away from the pier and into deeper water, and it is for this reason that she is missing her bow.
The stern tube, containing the drive shaft where it exits the hull, does not run through the centre of the stern, but instead is offset to the port side of the deadwood. This may indicate that Rifle was originally built as a sailing vessel, and the engine and stern tube etc were added at a later date.
The screw propeller might be the best clue as to the vessel's age, or, if in fact the engine was added later, the age of the machinery. The distinctive two-bladed 'bow-tie' design is known as a 'Smith's' screw, patented in 1836 by its inventor, Francis P. Smith. As early as 1843 the British Admiralty was experimenting with a number of screw configurations. Smith's screw emerged as the preferred design for the Admiralty's screw steamers.
In the mid-1980s the surviving portion of the hull was located and in 1989-1990 it was acquired by the Scottish Maritime Museum. She was moved indoors in 2006, and survives as a rare piece of marine archaeology.
Information from Ms Linda Ross (Curator, Scottish Maritime Museum), 1 February 2010.
Loss (1 January 1939 - 31 December 1939)
(Classified as iron steam launch: date of loss cited as 1939). Rifle: this vessel sank in Loch Arkaig during breaking-up operations. All gone to Irvine Maritime Museum [Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine].
Built 1861. Length: 12m.
(Location of loss cited as N55 50.00 W6 0.00).
I G Whittaker 1998.
External Reference (1 February 2010)
The stern section of the iron-hulled steamship Rifle is on public display in the Linthouse building at the Museum's Irvine site. This vessel was acquired by the Lochiel Estate for use on Loch Arkaig in the 1860s. The place and date of her construction are unknown, as are the builder and original owner, but we do know that she was transported from the Clyde into the Caledonian Canal and brought ashore at Bunarkaig at the mouth of Loch Arkaig. She was then towed by horses, with her hull sliding over oak rollers to the loch.
Rifle was in general service on the loch, ferrying goods, passengers and mail between isolated dwellings around the loch and linking them with Clunes and Achnacarry. The vessel also carried hunting parties as guests of the estate, and Queen Victoria travelled onboard in 1873, an outing which is recorded in her diary accounts. There was some level of logging activity in the vicinity of the loch, so the vessel was also used to tow log booms.
Rifle continued in this service until 1938 or 1939. At the time she was to be broken up. The engine was removed, but before breaking could continue she sank, and was not recovered. During the Second World War she was blocking the pier, so commandos either blasted or pulled her away from the pier and into deeper water, and it is for this reason that she is missing her bow.
The stern tube, containing the drive shaft where it exits the hull, does not run through the centre of the stern, but instead is offset to the port side of the deadwood. This may indicate that Rifle was originally built as a sailing vessel, and the engine and stern tube etc were added at a later date.
The screw propeller might be the best clue as to the vessel's age, or, if in fact the engine was added later, the age of the machinery. The distinctive two-bladed 'bow-tie' design is known as a 'Smith's' screw, patented in 1836 by its inventor, Francis P. Smith. As early as 1843 the British Admiralty was experimenting with a number of screw configurations. Smith's screw emerged as the preferred design for the Admiralty's screw steamers.
In the mid-1980s the surviving portion of the hull was located and in 1989-1990 it was acquired by the Scottish Maritime Museum. She was moved indoors in 2006, and survives as a rare piece of marine archaeology.
Information from Ms Linda Ross (Curator, Scottish Maritime Museum), 1 February 2010.
Note (28 January 2010)
The map sheet assigned to this record is essentially arbitrary.
The remains of this vessel are on display in the Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine (NS33NW 63.00).
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 January 2010.
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 356
Name : RIFLE
Latitude : 555000
Longitude : 60000
Date Built : 1861
Type : STEAM LAUNCH (IRON)
Length : 12
Loss Year : 1939
Comment : Sank in Loch Arkaig during BU operations. AG to Irvine Maritime Museum
