"They’re fearful things, terrible things these mines. We came across one in the back of Ulva one time. We were anchored in Crackaig Bay, where the wee cottage is and we went for a walk. We would do that, you know, in a wee rubber dinghy. And, away round toward the sands, there’s this bloomin’ mine on the shore.
"These were First World War mines and the casings on them were getting rotten. But anyway, it was up on the rocks and we went down for a look. The cannister inside was huge, full of explosive, and the nitro was running out of it down the rocks. We thought, we’ll get out of here quick, so we backed off. We left, went back to the boat and I called Oban radio at that time and I told them about it and they said they would deal with, get the Navy or whoever. Bomb disposal would come up and dispose of it.
"Anyway, I was told afterwards, it must have been the morning after we had seen it, they were out gathering in Ulva and Archie was gathering the shore and did Archie not see the bloomin’ mine! And off he went down to look at it, with the tackety boots on him – sparky boots – and the stick, and he’s whacking the mine like this . . . If one of these sparks had ignited the mine, can you imagine? Well, they blew that thing up where it was, the Navy and you should have seen the hole it blew in the rock. Oh my God!"
Adapted from an interview with Alasdair MacLean, Tobermory (June 2019) From episode 30 of the podcast What We Do in the Winter produced by Alasdair Satchel.
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