The iron steam yacht Capercailzie was launched from the Clydeholm yard of Barclay Curle and Co Ltd., Glasgow (Yard No 321) on 20th June 1883, She measured 192.2′ x 24.1′ x 13.0′ and her tonnage was 365 gross tons, 214 net tons. She was powered by a 2 cylinder compound steam engine by Barclay Curle delivering 76 nominal horse power. The vessel’s official number was 87699.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1890
She was built for Mr John Burns of Castle Wemyss. Purchased by the Admiralty on 26th September 1891 and renamed Vivid, for twenty years she was based at the Navy base at Devonport and served as a tender and admiral’s yacht. Finally in 1912 she was purchased from the Admiralty by the Royal Technical College in Glasgow for use as a training ship, the cost of the purchase was noted as £1,800.00.
Steam Yacht – Capercailzie
She was on her first voyage for her new owners on an instructional cruise round the Western Isles when, on 8th July, 1913, she ran aground on Bogha Chubaidth, a reef off Colonsay at around 3:10am. She had been en route to Stornoway, intending to make a passage through the Sound of Mull, under the command of Lieutenant William Beavan RNR with a crew of twenty regular seamen and cadets when the accident occurred. The sea was fairly calm but there was a large ocean swell running from the west so, with the vessel bumping heavily of the exposed rocks, the crew were ordered into the lifeboats which then stood by the grounded ship. Commander Beavan and his first officer remained aboard the Vivid hoping to oversee some kind of salvage attempt.
Capercailzie I – Rigging Plan
The crew fired a number of distress flares which were eventually spotted by the fishery cruiser Minna and later the Naval survey vessel Research, both of which reached the scene some nine hours after the initial grounding. With the crew and cadets safe and en route to Colonsay the Vivid, with her commander and the first officer still aboard, was taken in tow by the Minna. The two ships headed for the Sound of Islay but, before they could reach a safe haven, the Vivid filled with water and foundered off Rhuvaal Lighthouse at the north end of the sound in a position described as 1.5 miles north of Bunnahabhainn, and approximately 1 mile abreast of the lighthouse. The commander and his fellow officer just managed to escape from their ship before she went down.
The Vivid was reported to be lying in around 6 fathoms of water with her masts and the tip of her funnel visible. The wreck itself was in a very dangerous location and presented a hazard to vessels navigating the Sound of Islay. It also lay in an area of high tidal movement making any demolition or recovery works dangerous for hard hat diving and general mooring of vessels. We have not been able to find any substantive evidence of any organisation undertaking work on the wreck other than the Glasgow Salvage Association who put together an expedition based on the Vivid’s first position of loss, but when news reached Glasgow the following day that the wreck lay in the tidal and exposed location of the Sound of Islay, it was recalled.
New marine survey techniques and equipment along with electronic charts allow us to view large sections of the seabed around our coastline in relief, a 3-D effect. Objects such as wrecks, where they sit proud of the seabed can now be more easily located and viewed using one of a few packages available such as electronic charts produced by Navionics and C-MAP. In a recent update of these charts a feature has appeared off Rhuvaal Lighthouse which can only be a large anomaly around 50-60 metres long, and we believe that the feature in position 55° 56.290’N, 006° 06.444’W is the remains of the Vivid.
Navionics Boating App
In the summer of 2024 a team of divers from the Honeydew charter vessel dived on this mark. The dive did indeed reveal the wreck of a vessel heavily buried in the sandy seabed. The wreck is well broken but the bow with anchor is clearly visible and in tact. Various other miscellaneous sections of decking, pipework and are spread around. While nothing was found to confirm the wreck’s identity it is fairly certain this is the wreck of the Vivid.
