SKYE BOAT SONG
OVER THE
SEA TO
SKYE The famous Skye Boat Song commemorates Bonnie Prince Charlie's escape from under the noses of government troops. Robin Hodge on a stirring story of heroism and danger
Flora Macdonald by Johannes Faber (National Galleries of Scotland) 22 The Guide to Scotland’s Islands
T
he Skye Boat Song recounts part of one of the greatest manhunts in Scottish history. In the spring and summer of 1746, the might of the British state scoured land and sea in a ruthless effort to capture Bonnie Prince Charlie following the Jacobite defeat at Culloden (see opposite). A reward of £30,000, a vast fortune at the time, was offered to anyone who betrayed him. None did. Contrary to popular belief, the boat was crossing, not from the mainland but, in fact, back to Skye from the Outer Hebrides, where the Prince had been hiding in caves and abandoned bothies for ten long weeks following the battle. The Royal Navy was patrolling the coast in frigates and large numbers of troops were combing every corner of the islands, closing in on the Prince and his band of supporters. Fionnghal (generally called Flora) Macdonald came to the rescue. A young woman of 24 who was staying with her brother on South Uist, she was known to visit Skye from time to time and keep house for her stepfather at Armadale. Flora knew she could get the relevant papers giving her permission to travel and she proposed disguising the Prince as her maid and taking him on her clan’s boat over to Skye. The Prince was reluctant as the penalties for those caught helping him were severe – confiscation of family lands and execution for some, with transportation to indentured labour (akin to slavery) for others. But the net was closing fast and there was no other way out. Flora brought some women's clothes to the Prince’s bothy and dressed him, adding a headdress and cap to conceal as much of his face as possible. They set out on the grey, rainy evening of 28 June 1746 with a crew of five who rowed through the night, helped by a westerly wind. Having avoided a patrol, they landed at Kilbride on the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. Leaving her ‘maid’ sheltering at the top of the beach, Flora went to the nearby house at Monkstadt where she encountered Lieutenant MacLeod of the local progovernment militia, who insisted on inspecting her papers. She kept her nerve and distracted him while secret preparations were made to find a guide to take the Prince across the island to Portree. The Prince went on to spend another ten weeks living rough in the heather, roaming as far east as Ben Alder. Eventually he escaped back to France on the French naval ship L’Heureux. Flora Macdonald was subsequently arrested and taken to the Tower of London, but was later released and returned to Skye. Some 20 years later, she was visited by Dr Samuel Johnson who predicted that her name would be ‘mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour.’
