Rubha Nan Sasan, Cove Battery, Arctic Convoy Memorial

There is a memorial to the 3000 men who died on the Arctic convoys near the Cove Battery. It was unveiled on 10th September 1999.

"IN MEMORY OF OUR SHIPMATES

WHO SAILED FROM LOCH EWE

DURING WORLD WAR II.

THEY LOST THEIR LIVES

IN THE BITTER ARCTIC SEA BATTLES

TO NORTH RUSSIA

AND NEVER RETURNED

TO THIS TRANQUIL ANCHORAGE.

WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THEM."

Information from M Briscoe, 16th October 2012

A data upgrade project to record war memorials.

This commemorative monument is situated at the N end of the track (NG89SW 4.50) running up to the summit of the ridge overlooking the gun emplacements (NG89SW 4.01). It has been shaped from a slab of fine-grained quarried sandstone, which has been erected as a standing stone measuring up to 1.25m broad from E to W and 2m high. The inscription, which is engraved in capitals and painted navy blue, is displayed upon its smooth SSW face below the emblem of the Russian Arctic Convoys Club:

‘In memory of our shipmates | Who sailed from Loch Ewe | During World War II | They lost their lives | In the bitter Arctic Sea battles | to North Russia | And never returned | To this tranquil anchorage | We will always remember them’

A bed of small boulders at the foot of the stone not only supported four wreaths on the date of visit (with others on the ESE, WNW and NNE side of the monument), but also some more personal visitor offerings:

Painted on small water-worn rounded boulders:

‘In memory of | Charles Edward | Kennerley | and fellow crew lost in | the Barents Sea on | 31 December 1942 | We will always remember them | HMS Bramble’

‘Спасибо | Thank You’

Painted on driftwood with an image of the ship:

‘Arctic Convoy | Op – F8’; ‘SS Empire Gi[lbert] Torpedoed 2 November 1942’; ‘In memory of | Alfred Purdy | + 62 shipmates’

Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AKK), 5 September 2019.