The Orkney Image Library
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Not sure of the story here, but the next picture notes that Busy Bee is burned.
View Large VersionPicture added on 14 August 2008
can't help with the story but the photo is at hatston slip
Added by John on 14 August 2008
The following information has been extracted from 'Sail Ships of Orkney' by Sinclair Ross - published May, 1954:-
Underneath a photo of the 'Kathleen Annie' is the following caption:-
"The four-masted fore-and-aft auxiliary schooner 'Kathleen Annie' of London is seen being towed into Kirkwall Bay after having been ashore on Muckle Green Holm, Eday, on September 29, 1924.
She was beached at Grainshore where her cargo of 17,000 cases of rectified spirit was transferred to storage in Kirkwall. She was later condemned and sold for breaking up."
I think the boiler that can be seen at Grainshore at low water is from the trawler 'Busy Bee'.
[Right enough: see picture #11287, picture #3637, and picture #11342- Steven.
Orkneycommunities- reclaiming history for the masses!]
Underneath a photo of the 'Kathleen Annie' is the following caption:-
"The four-masted fore-and-aft auxiliary schooner 'Kathleen Annie' of London is seen being towed into Kirkwall Bay after having been ashore on Muckle Green Holm, Eday, on September 29, 1924.
She was beached at Grainshore where her cargo of 17,000 cases of rectified spirit was transferred to storage in Kirkwall. She was later condemned and sold for breaking up."
I think the boiler that can be seen at Grainshore at low water is from the trawler 'Busy Bee'.
[Right enough: see picture #11287, picture #3637, and picture #11342- Steven.
Orkneycommunities- reclaiming history for the masses!]
Added by Rob Thomson on 14 August 2008
Is the cargo ship named Leaside? And was she also damaged in the explosion?
Added by Ian Scott on 12 February 2014
The story has been featured in the Scotsman in January 2002. It is a cracking story, featuring a celebrity captain who despite proven superior abilities wrecks his ship on Muckle Green Holm, lots of contraband (methylated) spirit intended for the thirsty US market, a salvage operation gone wrong, a big bang followed by an unintentional firework, tins of firewater washed up all over the beaches of Orkney in time for Christmas (bit of a dangerous tipple, though). Well worth a read.
Added by Ute Clackson on 02 August 2018
St Ola
