Douglas MacQueen's blog

News from The Celtic League:

A crab boat which sank with the loss of three lives of the Hebrides has been raised by the MAIB so that it can gather a clearer picture of why the vessels foundered.

The Louisa sank on 9 April as it lay at anchor in calm seas off Mingulay in the Western Isles.

The bodies of two crew members have been found. The skipper is still missing and presumed dead.

News From The Celtic League:

It seems that the United Kingdom may be casting its eyes from the North Sea into the near Atlantic in search of oil and minerals to exploit if this story from today’s NATIONAL newspaper is anything to by:

http://www.thenational.scot/…/aberdeen-university-gets-gran…

News From The Celtic League:

That the munitions deposited in Beaufort Dyke poses an ongoing danger was graphically illustrated two decades ago when 100s of devices disturbed by work in the area of the Dyke came ashore.

The Dump site covers an area of about 12 x 8 miles in the North Channel but as this article from the Glasgow Herald (to which CELTIC LEAGUE contributed information to) confirms munitions were disposed of outside the parameters of the dump site and the debris cover an area from NE of the Isle of Man to the Clyde.

News from the Celtic League:

We focused on the potential danger posed to mariners by the NATO exercise Joint Warrior 2016 – 1 which gets underway from midnight tonight but another potential threat is to the environment from pollution or the impact of naval sonar on marine life.

The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin trust has carried out some research on this in recent years and you can find some information on their site (link);

Rare and interesting items often turn up for auction. One such object is the cooking pot that is thought to have belonged to Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). Dating back to the Jacobite rising of 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart sought to regain the throne for the exiled House of Stuart, the cast iron 18th century pot is valued at between £15,000 to £20,000.

In seeking to establish its provenance Bonhams annual Scottish auction refers to an extract from 'Story and Songs from Lochness-side', Alexander Macdonald, Inverness, 1914:

News From The Celtic League:

Very detailed report at this link from Greenpeace which shows just how devastating the sheer volume of fish these vessels can catch and process each day.

Not only the fish they catch but also trawl in small marine mammal’s dolphins and immature whales.

News From The Celtic League:

There is renewed focus on the mystery surrounding the death of SNP member and environmental campaigner Willie MacRae over thirty years after his death.

MacRae’s death on April 7th 1985 on a lonely Scottish road in the Highlands has long been surrounded by controversy and many people in Scotland firmly reject the official verdict that the campaigner committed suicide.

News From The Mannin Branch Celtic League:

Two issues that Celtic League has highlighted have coalesced as Highland Council and environmental campaigners have spoken out against proposals to ship highly toxic radiation waste from Dounreay in Northern Scotland to the United States.

The suitability of some vessels tasked with carrying nuclear waste was called into question after the fire last year on the Danish Ro Ro vessel, MV Parida.

At the western end of the mountain range of the Grampians (Scottish Gaelic: Am Monadh) stands the highest mountain in Scotland and the British Isles. Ben Nevis (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis) is visited by many thousands of people each year who enjoy outstanding views and the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding glens. Guide books for Ben Nevis will inform you that the mountain stands at 4,409 feet (1,344 metres) above sea level.