The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-30 00:00:00

BOAT ACCIDENT AND LOSS OF SIX

LIVES.

A correspondent of the North British, Daily Mail
communicates the following :—On Sunday, the 19th
inst., 12 individuals—six males and as many females
—left Achnagart and Relong, in the parish of Kin-
cardine, Ross-shire, with the intention of going to
the Free Church, in the parish of Criech, Suther-
landshire, where the sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was to be dispensed. These two parishes are sepa-
rated by the Doraoch Frith, and the river Oikill
The party, instead of taking the ferry, took a sal-,
mon fishing-boat or coble, which might comfortably
carry seven or eight persons only ; and though the
wind was high, the frith rather stormy, the boat
overloaded, and the sail too large, everything went
on well till they were about one mile and a quarter
from Bonar-bridge. Theie it was considered expe-
dient to take down the sail, and while so doing the
boat took in some water, which so alarmed some of
the females as to cause them to spring to the oppo-
site side'of the boat. She immediately filled, cap-
sized, and appears to have more than once turned
upside down in a part of the frith, which at the time
was from 12 to 14 feet deep, and is considered 300
or 400 yards from the shore. All were thrown into
the water. Only two could swim. These were
Donald Urquhart, a sailor, and Alexander Ross. The
former had his father and sister with him; the
latter had his wife, a son and a daughter. On look-
ing about him, Alex. Ross's attention was attracted
to his daughter struggling in the waves. He seized
hold and attempted to save her, but after an earnest
effort he felt that he was in the utmost peril of los-
ing his own life, without any hope of saving that of
his daughter, a girl of 16 years of age. He was
most reluctantly forced to let her go, ma which he
succeeded in swimming about 20 yards, when he
found he could stand, though the water reached to
his neck. Donald Urquhart, observing Ross's
daughter sinking head foremost, swam directly to
the spot, got hold of her, and twain with her to her
father, who could keep the girl's head above water.
Without a moment's delay, Urquhart swam back,
in the face of a strong wind and rapid current,
to the others who were helplessly struggling for
life. Observing a female in the act of being sub-
merged, he made for the spot where she disappeared,
dived after her to the bottom (12 feet), succeeded.
in bringing her to the surface and swimming with
her to her husband, for she happened to be Ross's
wife. Up to the neck himself, Ross managed to
keep the heads of his wife and daughter above
water. Urquhart with all possible expedition, for
the third time swam bravely to the scene of the
disastrous calamity, dived, as on the previous occa-
sion, and now brought two females from the bot-
tom. With these he emerged quite close to the
boat, which was rolling in the waves, and to which
he found another female clinging, but in imminent
danger of sinking into the surging water. She
managed to get hold of his clothes, as did her
sister—one of the two rescued and brought from the
bottom—the other was his own sister who was in a
state of utter unconsciousness. The noble fellow
has no distinct recollection of the manner in which
he now conducted himself, but he struggled despe-
rately to bring the three with him to Alexander
Ross. With his unconscious sister in one hand,
and the two sisters (Ann and Bella Ross) clinging
to his clothes, Urquhart made the most determined
and energetic struggles with the one free hand to
carry these to where the other rescued ones were in
the water. Without any human aid he succeeded,
although he was much exhausted and quite be-
wildered. Five were still in the bottom of the
frith—amongst them his own father—but the
brave fellow could do no more, and his helpless
sister demanded all his attention. Besides, there
was great necessity for making for dry land, as
the survivors were getting very feeble. Hitherto
none of the multitude of spectators who had wit-
nessed the catastrophe at various distances were
able to reeder any assistance, but when they were
able their services were of little avail. None of the
five who sank to the bottom were rescued alive.
Dr. Gordon was soon on the ground, and rendered
much aid to those who bad been rescued, but
all his efforts to resuscitate Janet Urquhart
proved unavailing. From the above it will
be observed that of the twelve who were in
the boat, six were drowned—four males and
two females—and among these the father and sister
of Urquhart. Of the surviving six four were
rescued from certain death by the noble andintre-
pid sailor. The coolness, promptitude, energy, and
daring that characterised his conduct cannot be
too highly appreciated, when the rapidity of the
current, the strength of the wind, the roughness of
the frith, the depth of the channel at the time and
place when and where the casualty occurred, and
the distance he had to swim, so heavily encumbered,
are duly weighed.