Hurricane update - 21 October (II)

In the Bay of Bengal, tropical cyclone Giri has strengthened explosively to 70 knots (that's well into hurricane strength), and will pick up even more strength before it comes ashore in Myanmar. I am unable to access the website for Department for Meteorology and Hydrology in Myanmar - I hope they are aware of what's headed their way.

Thursday 21 October

A grey, wet and cold day. The sun popped its head round the corner for a minute, but that was about it.
It is reported that Linda Norgrove, who was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Afghanistan on 8 October, is to be buried at Ardroil, Lewis, next week. An inquest into her death has been opened and adjourned.

The BBC World Service could be forced to cut some of its foreign language services when plans are implemented for it to be funded from the BBC License Fee. Anyone in the UK who owns a television or radio receiver is required to pay £145.50 per annum for the privilege. Until now, the World Service was funded through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
I have been a strong supporter of the BBC World Service for nearly 30 years, as it is held to be an impartial disseminator of news to areas of conflict; particularly where independently verified news can be hard to come by. Strangulating the funding of such an important service is not doing anyone any favours; I do realise that budget cuts have to be made somewhere, but this is the second example of one cut I thoroughly dislike.

The second cut involves our Coastguard tug. The Anglian Sovereign (and four of its brethren) patrol the waters around the United Kingdom, and the tug positioned at Stornoway is there to keep shipping safe. It was put there following the Braer disaster (a supertanker which broke up on the coastline of Shetland in 1993), precisely to prevent a repetition of such a calamity. At least one such accident has been avoided in my 6 years here in Lewis, and I think it is a very, very bad move indeed. Local MPs are thinking so too.

Again, cuts have to be made - but saying that ship's owners are responsible for the salvage of their wrecked boats is the same as saying that they are responsible for the saving of their crews' lives - and cut down on RAF crews doing rescues by helicopter.

Hurricane update - 21 October

A new tropical depression has formed in the northwestern Caribbean. This is expected to intensify to tropical storm Richard, which will move northwest towards if not past the Yucatan Peninsula. Worth keeping an eye on.

Typhoon Megi continues to churn its way north towards China, with winds slowly decreasing, currently at 95 knots (110 mph). The storm will make landfall in the early hours of Saturday to the east of Hong Kong.

The Bay of Bengal is also hosting a tropical phenomenon, here it is termed a tropical cyclone. 04B is headed east and will make landfall in Burma (now known as Myanmar). This system will reach 60 knots as maximum sustained windspeed (that's equivalent to force 11 on the Beaufort scale), but I think rain will be a bigger problem.

To add to the fun, there are two tropical disturbances out in the Pacific which have a good chance (50% or more) of becoming fully fledged tropical cyclones. One is located northwest of Guam, the other west of Wake Island.

Anniversaries

October is the month that I started blogging, back in 2004.

My first blogpost told the story of my day's activities in the Isle of Skye, 70 miles south of Stornoway. Although you can see posts, dated before 8 October 2004, these were added a year later and backdated. Kyleakin is the name of the place where I started this.

October is the month we were kicked out of J-land, back in 2008.
October, therefore, is the month I had to set up this new blog, back in 2008.

In other words, I've been blogging for a smidgen over six years this month.
I nicked this tag from Jeannette's blog, hope she doesn't mind.

Layout

I have altered the layout of this blog, for the first time in two years. No change to contents, just to colours and backgrounds. Hope you like it!

Wednesday 20 October

Winter has made its first impact of the season, with heavy snow causing havoc on the rural roads of Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland. Several roads are blocked or only passable with care. I remember this day six years ago, when the first fall of snow also happened on October 20th. It was a perishing cold morning in the Isle of Skye (where I was at the time), and I went for a walk in the Cuillin Mountains. More accurately, through the Cuillin Mountains, not over them. The Cuillins (pronounce Coolins) stand 3,300 feet tall from sealevel up and are a very challenging and jagged lot. This picture shows the mountains on 20 October 2004.



The news in the UK is dominated by the so-called spending review, meaning that government spending is being subjected to savage cuts. When I switch to the French news (in English): what do I see but more spending cuts - and demonstrations, blockades of oil refineries and queues at petrol pumps, which have run dry. Well, I am not going to make any partizan statements on this blog, but I just hope that it is all worth it in the long run.

Clearances: Strathnaver

I'm currently transcribing the Napier Report for Sutherland (the far north of Scotland), which carries some harrowing evidence. Angus Mackay, a 22-year old student of divinity, is being interrogated.

You say you are used and abused by the officials of the estate. Will you be good enough to mention instances of abuse?
I will give you a few specimens. The first case is one of Angus Gordon, tenant, Aird. In 1879 a road was made through Angus Gordon's croft while a large piece was taken from him at the lower end and a lime storing-house built upon it. The tenant was promised surface damages as his corn was partly destroyed, and a reduction of rent, but on making his demands when paying his rent he was only laughed at, and told that they would get plenty men to take his croft if he was not pleased with it. As he had roused the ire of the officials they gave permission to the vessels carrying lime into the river, to use for ballast the stones of the dyke fencing in Gordon's lot at the lower end. The dyke was pulled down accordingly, and now his croft is exposed to damage from his neighbours' cattle; and next year his rent was raised eighteen shillings—that was when the general rise was made on the rent —but he went to the Duke and the rent was reduced again.

Another instance is the case of one Christina Mackay, Beathag. She was an old woman and permitted James Thomson, her brother-in-law, to live in an end of her house, but, as the factor was at enmity with this man, he evicted Christina before the term, and sent the ground officer round the district forbidding the people upon pain of eviction to give her shelter in their houses. The public broke open the door of her house and she went in again and stayed till the term, when she was formally to be evicted upon a warrant. The thing preyed upon her mind so much that when the day of final eviction came she died about twelve o'clock, broken hearted, the ground officer and sheriff officer being then within half a mile of her house on their way to evict her.

Tuesday 19 October

A very cold day today. The mercury just about managed to scrape to 7C, but as I type (9.10pm), it is already on its way down again past the 3C mark. There were some beefy showers about, some carrying hail and sleet, by all accounts.

The UK Government has announced that the RAF Kinloss is to be closed, with great uncertainty remaining around the other RAF base in Morayshire, RAF Lossiemouth. Kinloss is currently home to the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft, which will not be replaced. The Nimrods are more than 40 years old, and nearing the end of their technical lifespan. If Lossiemouth closes as well, this will mean the loss of 15% of employment (4000 to 6000 jobs) in the county of Morayshire - a rural district which can ill afford such losses.

Contrast that to the antics of 24-year old star footballer Wayne Rooney who has said he is moving away from Manchester United, possibly to join United's rivals Manchester City. Rooney hasn't been doing to well this year, so I presume he wants a change of scenery. Spoiled brat. I have zero time for vastly overpaid football players who prance around a football pitch for a few hours each week - to be paid astronomical sums of money.

The Napier Commission in Sutherland

It is late July 1883, and the Napier Commission has arrived on the distant north coast of Scotland. Sitting in the hamlet of Bettyhill, a village 30 miles west of Thurso, the Commission has just spoken at length to 23-year old Adam Gunn, on the problems, facing the people in his district. His interrogation comes to a grinding conclusion with this exchange:

25560. Have you always been engaged in agricultural labour, or have you had any other occupation?
—I am a student as well.

25561. In the university?
—Yes.

25562. Which university?
—St Andrews.

25563. For the purpose of entering one of the professions?
—I am not sure.

Hurricane update - 18 October

Typhoon Megi made landfall on the east coast of Luzon, Philippines, at 03.30 GMT this morning. The storm packed winds of 165 mph and is bringing very heavy rains to the island. The system has traversed the Sierra Madre range of mountains (which peak at about 5,900 feet), which has caused weakening to an estimated 95 knots or 115 mph. Once over open water, all the conditions are in place to allow the typhoon to reintensify at a rapid pace. Megi is expected to make a graceful curve across the South China Sea and make landfall in southern China, somewhere between Hong Kong and Hainan Island, with winds of just over 100 knots.

This Manila based newspaper is carrying updates on the typhoon's impact.

Monday 18 October

A nice bright morning - with some showers about. Feeling quite cold, with the mercury only just at 10C / 50F. Autumn is here, quickly headed for winter.

I could not believe my ears when I heard a report of an American woman, who is going round offering sterilisation to drug addicts. Barbara Harris says she gets very angry at the plight of children of drug addicts. Some describe her £200 pay-out after the procedures as a bribe. I think it completely misses the point. I am fully aware of the disastrous effects that drug addictions have on people and their families, not to mention the babies born to addicted women - who go "cold turkey" straight after birth. Rather than helping addicts "kick" their cravings, this Project Prevention charity destroys something else in their lives. If addicts take up this offer, and subsequently manage to get rid of their addiction, they will rue their decision for the rest of their lives. I would not be too sorry to see the back of Mrs Harris and her Project Prevention.

I shall have another post later today.

Hurricane update - 17 October

Supertyphoon Megi (also known as Juan) is headed for the Philippines with sustained windspeeds of 155 knots (175 mph or 280 km/h), gusting to 190 knots (215 mph or 345 km/h). This storm will impact the north of Luzon Island in the Philippines within 12 to 24 hours. Apart from the high winds, there will also be extremely heavy rains, which usually cause the worst in damage and casualties in the Philippines. After passing over Luzon, the storm will have weakened somewhat, but will restrengthen in the South China Sea, before veering northwest and making probable landfall in southern China, near Hong Kong by the end of the coming week.

The Philippines weather agency PAGASA has raised the following  Public Storm Warning Signals (updated every 6 hours) for provinces:
#1 - Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Polillo Island
#2 - Ilocos Norte & Sur, Abra, La Union, Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Rest of Aurora
#3 - Batanes, Calayan, Babuyan Group of Islands, Apayao, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Quirino, Northern Aurora
#4 - Cagayan, Isabela

Earlier today, this satellite image was obtained of the storm, nearing its current peak intensity.

Remembered - Donald Angus is Donald Mackenzie

As I continue to fill in details on more of the WW1 casualties from Lewis, I was posed quite a riddle last night.  And it was very sad indeed, when I found out exactly what had been going on.

The story starts on 9 October 1874, when, at 2 am, Jessie Mackenzie and her husband John (a ploughman) were delighted with the birth of their first born, a daughter, Marion. They had only been married since the previous December. Jessie and John went on to have another four children, Roderick, Donald, Mary A. and Hector. They were 1, 5, 6 and 11 years younger than Marion, according to the Census of 1891. By then, their father was marked as a crofter and fish-curer.

Marion grew up to be a fish worker in Stornoway, a common occupation for island women in the latter years of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century - and not just in Stornoway. They would go to many other Scottish fishing ports to gut herring at the phenomenal speed of 60 a minute.

Two months before her 21st birthday, on 19 August 1895, Marion gave birth to a baby boy, who was to be known as Donald. She did not register the birth until September 27th that year; and the birth register coldly refers to the baby as illegitimate, quoting no father's name.

Six years later, there is another Census (in 1901). Donald's age is quoted incorrectly as 4 (he will in fact be 6 that year). He is mentioned as a grandchild; his uncle Hector is now aged 16 and an apprentice baker. Grandfather John is working in a guano factory - which is not necessarily processing bird excrement, but is also thought to have been fish offal. Marion Mackenzie is not mentioned on the census return for 29 Lower Sandwick - but we catch up with her shortly.

The Great War starts in 1914. Donald is a lance-corporal serving with the 3rd battalion of the Gordon Highlanders when he is transferred to hospital in Aberdeen. He died on 21st July 1915, aged 19, of pulmonary tuberculosis. By then, his mother has moved to the city of Aberdeen and is quoted as living at 2, Gilcomston Terrace; she is married to a stonecutter (dry process) by the name of Alexander Miller.

Two years after the end of the war, the Stornoway Gazette published a Roll of Honour, entitled "Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour 1914-1918", in which there is a casualty at 27 Lower Sandwick. He is named as Donald Angus, and for more than three years I have run into a wall trying to find out more details on this man. Angus is not commonly used as a surname, and nobody by that name is recorded as having been born in Scotland before 1900. The Roll of Honour quoted a string of Mackenzies at 27 Lower Sandwick, and by searching for a Donald Mackenzie, dying on 21 July 1915, having served with the Gordons in WW1, I tracked down the correct casualty. The birth- and death-records of Scotland's People filled in the gaps and I'm confident that Donald Angus is Donald Mackenzie.

The erroneous entry for this man started in 1916 with the first Roll of Honour, and was copied into the second (and final) volume, published in 1921. I cannot speculate whether this mistake was linked to Donald's illegitimate status at birth.

Postscript: Marion Miller succumbed to miliary tuberculosis (widespread throughout the body) on 10 July 1932, almost exactly 17 years after her son died. Her age is quoted as 55 on the death record, but she is actually 57. She died at Aberdeen, survived by her husband.

With thanks to blogger Direcleit for kindly supplying the census returns and the info on the guano factory.

Saturday 16 October

A bright but cold start to the day; after a low of just 2C at 6 a.m., the mercury is slowly making its way towards double figures, showing 7C at the moment. As I said yesterday, we're headed for a cold spell next week, and this is but the beginning.

Today, the Royal National Mod is drawing to a close up in Thurso. This is an unusual location for the showcase of Gaelic culture, as Caithness (Land of the Cats) is more closely associated with the Norse culture. However, it appears to have been a great success, and the Duke of Rothesay (better known as Prince Charles) give his ringing endorsement to the Gaelic culture, saying it is belongs to all of Scotland. I'm sure people forgave him his rambling Gaelic (look who's talking) on account of that. The locations for the National Mod will be Stornoway in 2011, Dunoon in 2012, Paisley in 2013 and Inverness in 2014.

I have reached a conclusion with the man named as Donald Angus in the Roll of Honour for World War I. In fact he is Donald Mackenzie of 27 Lower Sandwick, son of Marion Mackenzie (father not known). She was a fish worker. Donald died of TB at the City Hospital, Aberdeen in July 1915 at the age of nearly 20, having served in the 3rd battalion Gordon Highlanders.


RIP

I'll have another post later today.

Friday 15 October

Well, it would appear that summer is over and winter is rapidly approaching. Next week will see an icy blast approaching from the Arctic, and snow could fall over the mountains of mainland Scotland. The Cairngorms already had a dusting of snow last month; more to follow.

General Petreaus, in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has updated the father of Linda Norgrove, killed in a failed rescue attempt a week ago, on the state of affairs regarding the investigation into her death. It would appear likely that someone made a bad mistake by tossing something into the compound where Linda had just run away from her captors - something that exploded, and killed Linda. Once the post-mortem on her body is complete, it will be taken to Lewis for interment at Ardroil Cemetery, a few miles from her home in the village of Mangersta.

View from Ardroil Cemetery

I am making efforts to clear up a very obscure riddle, related to the World War I casualties from Lewis. A transcription error, propagated through two versions of the local Roll of Honour, is leading me in the general direction of an illegitimate child - who, 20 years later, succumbed to tuberculosis whilst enrolled in the service of His Majesty's Armed Forces. I am awaiting confirmation, and will post when this is received.

Hurricane update - 14 October

Former hurricane Paula has weakened to tropical storm status, and is headed east along the north coast of Cuba. The island state's capital Havana will see 3 to 6 inches of rain tomorrow, as well as tropical storm force winds (up to force 11 on the Beaufort scale). Paula is forecast to be pulled apart by hostile winds within 48 hours; its remnant will continue to move east, south of the Florida Keys.

Thursday 14 October

A quiet day on the weatherfront, although some high cloud is moving across now - getting on for 6pm.
I was up until 2 am this morning, watching the last of the 33 trapped miners being released from their stone prison in the Atacama desert. I was quite impressed by the efforts from the Chilean authorities to get these men out; else it would have been another footnote in the annals of mining fatalities across the year. A reaction from the Ukraine on the BBC News website stated that 3,600 miners had died in that country over 10 years; ten a day, if that information is reliable.

General Petreaus has visited UK prime minister David Cameron in London to discuss the death of aid worker Linda Norgrove. It appears that a dreadful mistake was made by one member of the American rescue team. The general had a furtive eye and uncomfortable demeanour as he walked up Downing Street. Linda's body is to be repatriated and a post-mortem will be conducted in the UK. Funeral arrangements will be made once that process is complete.

Wednesday 13 October

As I'm typing this, the 18th miner is on his way up from the collapsed mine in Chile, 30 miles from the town of Copiapo, about 400 miles north of the country's capital, Santiago. Esteban Rojas follows the route, up an incredibly narrow shaft, taken by 17 of his shiftmates over the preceding 15 hours. It is hoped to have all 33 out in the early hours of Thursday morning, local time (GMT -3 hours). It is not often that a mining accident of this scale leads to a happy outcome, and I really hope that the rescue will be completed successfully. Chile's mines do not have a good safety record, and it is expected that regulations will be tightened. I have watched this operation on live television over the past 8 hours, and it has been very moving.

Further information has come forth regarding the unsuccessful operation to rescue Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan last week. It would appear that an American marine tossed a fragmentation grenade into the compound where Linda was cowering, exploding next to her - wounding her mortally.

Wednesday started dull and overcast, but the sun put in an appearance after lunchtime. Not very warm, only 11C / 52F. 

Remembered

In the compilation of “Faces from the Lewis War Memorial” (which remembers the Fallen from the Isle of Lewis in World War I), there are quite a few names with very little information. It sometimes takes a little bit of effort to disentangle the web and let the light from the past shine more clearly. An example.
The Roll of Honour mentions an Iver Maciver from 9 North Shawbost, who, serving with the Canadians, died of wounds in 1916 at the age of 21. I just couldn’t cross reference him - not with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, not with the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, and not with the CEF records on Libraries and Archives Canada either.

Until this evening. Looking at the page for North Shawbost again, it occurred to me that Kenneth Maciver, also quoted at 9 North Shawbost, might be the brother of “Iver”. Kenneth Maciver is reported to have been born at Lochcarron, so I did a search on ScotlandsPeople for Macivers in Lochcarron around 1895 - and who came out but Evander Maciver. Born to the same parents as Kenneth.

Using the sources quoted above, I now search for Evander Maciver, dying in 1916 - and this was the result:

Corporal EVANDER MACIVER
Last address in Lewis: 9 North Shawbost,
Son of John and Isabella Maciver, of Carnan House, Shawbost, Stornoway. Born at Lochcarron, Ross-shire.
Service unit: 52nd Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment)
Service number: 440086
Date of death: 9 July 1916 at the age of 21
Died of wounds
Interred: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, grave VIII. C. 6
Local memorial: West Side, Bragar

Evander was born at Lochcarron, northeast of Kyle, on 9 August 1894
When he enlisted for service, in the Manitoba town of Sewell in Canada, he stood 5 ft 5 in tall.
He is described as of fair complexion and fair-haired with light blue eyes.
Evander was a Presbyterian, and a carpenter by trade.

Rest in peace.

Hurricane update - 12 October

Hurricane Paula, which was not even a recognised tropical cyclone 24 hours ago, has intensified to category II status on the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale. This means that the storm carries maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The system is located east of the Yucatan Peninsula and will move north along the peninsula's coastline, then curve away east and weaken. The National Hurricane Center issued an intermediate advisory at 1745 GMT (1345 EDT) to reflect an unexpected round of strengthening.