The iron steamship Arbutus was launched from the Pointhouse yard of A and J Inglis, Glasgow (Yard No 119) on 21st May 1875. She measured 209.7′ x 28.1′ x 14.4′ and her tonnage was 637 gross tons, 336 net tons. She was powered by a 2 cylinder compound steam engine by A and J Inglis delivering 180 registered horse power. Built for the Laird Line Ltd of Glasgow she entered service later that year operating mainly between the Clyde and various Irish ports. Her official number was 71731.
Lloyds register 1878
Arbutus departed from Londonderry bound for her home port of Glasgow on Wednesday 17th April, 1878. She had a general cargo aboard, mainly of farm produce, plus 209 head of cattle and around sixty passengers well looked after by Captain Aitken and his crew. At first the voyage went well but, when off Moville, Northern Ireland, they encountered dense fog. The captain slowed his ship to around seven knots and for several hours, as they crept across the North Channel, he continually fired the signal gun and blasted the ship’s foghorn. Despite the weather the passengers were relaxed and unaware of the danger that lurked, hidden in the fog, just ahead of their ship.
Shortly after midnight, when most of the passengers had retired to their cabins, the ship ran onto a rock north of the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse. The strong tidal streams offshore had combined with the slow speed of the Arbutus to push her west of her intended course. Panic broke out aboard the ship. Many passengers rushed on deck in their nightclothes and, for a short while, they believed the vessel was about to sink. After they were given a final shock as the ship lurched to one side then the other, she settled on an even keel and an orderly evacuation of the ship got underway. The passengers and crew disembarked into the Arbutus’ four lifeboats which were easily rowed ashore in the calm conditions, two reaching the lighthouse and the other two continuing round the coast to Southend. Shortly after they left, the ship slipped of the rock and sank in a reported depth of around 30 fathoms amid the tide rips off the Mull and became a total loss.
Wreck believed to Arbutus (extract from Garmin Boating App)
A Hydrographic Department survey in 2012 revealed a number of wrecks in the area around the Mull of Kintyre including a wreck close to the reported position of the loss of the Arbutus. The wreck appears to correspond closely to the length of the Arbutus and leads us to believe that this is indeed the wreck of this vessel. The wreck lies in position 55° 19.643’N, 05° 50.747’W oriented 320/140 degrees. She lies in 94 metres and rises 4 metres from the seabed. The tidal flows and overfalls of this particular section of the Mull of Kintyre would suggest this wreck will never be explored so the identification remains unverified.
