The steel steamship Sheila was launched from the Pointhouse yard of A and J Inglis, Glasgow (Yard No 275) on 31st January 1904. She measured 150.1′ x 23.0′ x 10.4′ and her tonnage was 280 gross tons, 77 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by A and J Inglis delivering 76 nominal horse power. Built for David MacBrayne Ltd she operated on various west coast routes from the mainland and to and from the islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1925.
SS Sheila on end of pier
She was en route from Stornoway to Kyle of Lochalsh with a general cargo and six passengers in the early hours of the morning of 1st January 1927. Around 6am without warning and in total darkness she ran aground near Cuaig, a small village north of Applecross on the Rosshire mainland. Thankfully the night was calm and the passengers were in no immediate danger. When daylight dawned they found themselves ashore on a rock strewn beach with the ship leaking badly. Luckily they had narrowly missed a rocky shoal offshore. A stranding there would have been much more dangerous. An attempt to pull the ship off the rocks using her engines proved fruitless.
Steamship Sheila alongside
The Sheila lay with a list of forty five degrees which allowed the port lifeboat to be launched to take the half dozen passengers safely ashore. It was soon evident that the ship was not in danger allowing the passengers to return to the ship to await rescue. However, the remote location of the stranding meant that no immediate assistance was forthcoming and so, two hours later, the passengers returned ashore and walked to a nearby farm. The crew remained on board hoping that she could be refloated. Some 30 hours after the Sheila went aground day, around 4pm on 2nd January, the relief steamer Plover finally arrived and picked up the passengers to take them to Kyle of Lochalsh.
Sheila ashore east of Rubha Chuaig
On January 4th a heavy northerly gale began to grind the ship on the rocks. Her position was deteriorating quickly. By the end of the day the Sheila had slipped further into the water with her stern disappearing beneath the surface. Over the next few days she gradually slipped deeper and was abandoned as a total wreck. The wreck was sold for salvage on February 16th.
The precise location of the wreck is not known but it lies in a position estimated at 57° 33.790’N, 005° 50.845’W based on contemporary reports and photographs. Local shellfish divers have reported wreckage of a steamship in the area, which is almost certainly the Sheila. Some crockery and cutlery presumably recovered while she was ashore is displayed in Applecross museum.
Applecross Museum
