I first visited Mull and Iona in 2006 and on the way back to the ferry passed some abandoned boats on the shore near Salen on the East coast of Mull – I didn’t have much time but stopped to take a closer look and take a few photos.
Fast forward 17 years and I am planning another trip to Mull and it got me thinking about those boats, what sort of condition they are in after all this time and wondering about their history.
Although there are countless photos of these boats on-line – after all they are very photogenic – there does not seem to be much information about them.
Searching on-line the boats have been there for anything between 25 and 50 years depending on what you believe from Mr Google’s findings – perhaps someone local can confirm how long they have been there and why they were originally abandoned.
Anyway moving on to the individual boats themselves, they are (or should I say were) called Elise May, Pavonia and Girl Claire – all originally built in the 50s and mostly plied their trade around the Scottish coast.
Looking from the shore the smaller boat on the right (currently Elise May) started life as Wistaria OB327 and was also Starosa and Mint BF300.
The boat on the left is the Pavonia WK53 – built in 1955 in McDuff – and was previously Pavonia HL114 based in Hartlepool.
The boat at the back – Girl Claire B8 – was built in Fraserburgh in the late 1950s and started life as Girl Wilma INS53 and later Cairngorm FD53 / DO63.
In the years since I visited, the elements have taken their toll on the boats, all their decks are long gone, the superstructures gone, wheelhouses have collapsed and the hulls are starting to rot away.
I’ll update this post with some new photos after my visit in late May.
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