"I love the west coast of Scotland, its islands and its people; and above all I love the free life of the amateur cruiser." The Log of the ‘Blue Dragon’ 1892-1904. C C Lynam, AH Bullen, London, 1907.
The Voyage of the Pharos. Sir Walter Scott, Scottish Library Association, 1968. An account of his 1814 cruise around Scotland as a guest of the Commissioners of the Northern Lights, on the Lighthouse Yacht, Pharos; rather more readable than his novels.
A Yachtsman's Holidays or Cruising in the Hebrides. John Inglis, Pickering and Co, London, 1879. Another early account of cruises in the Hebrides, with fairly posh chaps, a skipper and paid hands. Much drinking and eating, but also interesting verbatim conversations, and good accounts of the sailing.
Down Channel. R T McMullen, Grafton Books, London, 1986 (a reproduction of the original 1893 edition). A classic book. Logs of his many cruises between 1850 and 1891, including to the east and west coasts of Scotland, Ireland and round the British Isles, and Orkney. Very little description of the places he landed, or who he spoke to, but excellent accounts of the sea and of sailing before anyone much else was attempting to go cruising, at least for pleasure.
Summer Sailings, by an old yachtsman. A Young, David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1898. More like a late 19th century tour guide than a book about sailing, but includes excellent illustrations by the author, an Edinburgh Advocate, and descriptions of well-known places like the Falls of Lora.
The Log of the Blue Dragon 1892-1904. C C Lynam, AH Bullen, London, 1907. Amazing and amusing account of cruises in the Hebrides, often in winter and sometimes single-handed, with many groundings, cock-ups and near misses. The 25ft centre-plate engineless yawl was built in land-locked Oxford, sailed down the Thames, round Lands End and up to Scotland, and the author "never had a paid hand on board, and never but once signalled for a pilot"! He was the unconventional and no doubt inspirational headmaster of the Dragon School in Oxford, which is why his cruises were all in the school holidays (these days I like to think he would have taught in a comprehensive school). He didn't like Cowper's Sailing Tours (see below) at all because: "His knowledge of the west coast and its people is gathered from two hurried cruises and merits rather the name of ignorance .... contains nothing useful that is not taken from the official Sailing Directions."!
Coastwise Cross-seas, the tribulations and triumphs of a casual cruiser. Henry Reynolds, J D Potter, London, 1921. Although based on the Deben in Suffolk, the schoolmaster author spent his summer holidays cruising — with no engine — all round the UK, including up to Orkney and Shetland, and round the west coast, taking in Ireland too. Not much description of the few places he had time to call in on, but excellent feeling of what sailing was like 100 years ago.
Isle, Ben and Loch, from the Clyde to Skye. S Heckstall Smith, Edward Arnold, London, 1932. An account of gentlemen's yachting where the skipper and pilot were hired, and the Owner ruled the roost. It is very much about our patch of sea, albeit with little information about what there is to see ashore, and written in purple prose, too often along with much romantic twaddle about Skye.
Sailing Orders. Practical instruction to yachtsman, illustrated by the author's cruises on the West Coast of Scotland. Capt J R Harvey, Alexander Maclehose, London, 1935. What it says on the cover. It is a well-written description of summer holidays on not much money, and even without a 'paid hand': "my young family and I have always managed somehow". There is also a lot of technical stuff on charts and how to make them, navigation, compass deviation, how to organise a boat, most of which is not that interesting. But the information about many of the anchorages is still relevant. As was so common in those days, the engine was unreliable and a lot of time was spent towing the boat with the dinghy, and by horse or even manpower along the Crinan canal.
West Coast Cruising. John McLintock, Blackie and Son, Glasgow, 1938. Another between-the- wars account of not so much cruises in chronological order, but of the author's experiences on the West Coast. However, there is too much history, fairy tales and misty Celtic legends for my taste, all dressed up in purple prose. Nonetheless, it gives a good idea of what the anchorages were like, along with some pilotage information. Curiously we are told nothing of what sort of boat he sailed, or with whom, and nor did he tell us anything about the people he met along the way. Or himself.
Leaves from Rowan's logs; cruises on the west coast of Scotland. R.B.Carslaw, Robert Ross and Co Ltd, London, 1944. An account by a Glasgow surgeon of how in the 1930s he introduced his wife and five children to sailing on the Clyde and up sometimes to as far as Torridon. He also had a dog aboard. While he doesn't tell us all that much about the places he visited, or the family dynamics, it is certainly interesting to read about cruising in what were then empty seas. He anchored in Ardfern, Craobh Haven and Dunstaffnage long before there were any marinas. Puilladobhrain was clearly a great favourite but he didn't seem to walk over the hill to the pub. And so was the Brandy Stone, a large lump of rock on the shore just south of Oban Sailing Club, an area now occupied by moorings. He seems to have had far worse weather than we have today, or maybe he was just exaggerating as the book was written from his logs ten or more years after the cruises.
We who adventure; cruises in British Waters. L B Winter, Oxford University Press, 1956. Another doctor author, this time sailing from Essex in the 1930s, and cruising off the west and north coasts of Scotland.
Halcyon in the Hebrides. Bob Orrell, Whittles Publishing, Dunbeath, 2012. This will probably become a classic of how sailing was in the early 2000s. The author rather lovingly describes a solo voyage from the Clyde up to Stornoway and back, possibly his last cruise as he was over 70 at the time.