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Bass Rock by Ian Scott Massie
Original Watercolour
16" x 12" Mounted size - 10" x 7" Image size
Available: unframed @ £340
To shop, please click here
16" x 12" Mounted size - 10" x 7" Image size
Available: unframed @ £340
To shop, please click here
THE BASS ROCK
The Bass Rock sits just off the coast, not far from the pleasant town of North Berwick. Topped with a white dome of guano, it can be seen clearly from the train. It’s an extraordinary place, home to ten percent of the world’s population of northern gannets. Their droppings give off 152,000 kg of ammonia every year. But the Bass isn’t just a bird sanctuary. It has been chiefly known as a prison - a sort of Caledonian Alcatraz.
Most of the prison stories from the Bass end tragically, but there is one tale which is a little more uplifting. During the first Jacobite rising - the revolt in favour of the Catholic James Stuart over the Protestant William of Orange - four Jacobite officers were imprisoned there. On June 16th 1691, the prison was barely guarded when a boat with a delivery of coal arrived. The 50-strong garrison and the governor had gone ashore.
As some of the guards left the walls to meet the boat, the Jacobites overpowered the rest. Under threat from the primed barrel of the prison’s cannon, the guards at the harbour were persuaded to depart on the collier. At the same time, a group of Jacobites left the shore with a boat of provisions to help their comrades on the rock sustain a siege.
The government attempted to besiege the rock, but small boats kept getting through to top up the rebel’s supplies. Naval cannons couldn’t fire on the prison since their guns could not elevate sufficiently. Word of the siege spread to France and their sympathetic government also sent ships with supplies.
Eventually, after holding the island for three years, the government was brought to the negotiating table. The Jacobites were granted a full pardon, could keep their weapons and were offered passage to France.
Most of the prison stories from the Bass end tragically, but there is one tale which is a little more uplifting. During the first Jacobite rising - the revolt in favour of the Catholic James Stuart over the Protestant William of Orange - four Jacobite officers were imprisoned there. On June 16th 1691, the prison was barely guarded when a boat with a delivery of coal arrived. The 50-strong garrison and the governor had gone ashore.
As some of the guards left the walls to meet the boat, the Jacobites overpowered the rest. Under threat from the primed barrel of the prison’s cannon, the guards at the harbour were persuaded to depart on the collier. At the same time, a group of Jacobites left the shore with a boat of provisions to help their comrades on the rock sustain a siege.
The government attempted to besiege the rock, but small boats kept getting through to top up the rebel’s supplies. Naval cannons couldn’t fire on the prison since their guns could not elevate sufficiently. Word of the siege spread to France and their sympathetic government also sent ships with supplies.
Eventually, after holding the island for three years, the government was brought to the negotiating table. The Jacobites were granted a full pardon, could keep their weapons and were offered passage to France.
How it would look on your wall
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