Soitheach Na Daoine (Ship of the People)
Interest was generated in this deplorable event in the history of the Hebrides by an article in The Scotsman in October 2016. Norman MacLeod, later tacksman of Berneray, was heavily implicated in the bad deeds described.
Thanks to Donald McDonald of Adelaide, Australia for contributing the text below, which he researched and compiled himself. Also thanks to Norman MacLeod for sourcing the material and sending it in to us.
In October 1739 Norman Macleod was a young man twenty-four years of age; he was the leader of a party of five kidnappers who were chosen by himself for the purpose of capturing men and women from the Isle of Skye and the Bays of Harris and transporting them as an illegal shipment of "human cargo" to America.
For what purpose?… to be sold into slavery.
24 year old Norman brought the ship 'William' to the Islands and arrived at Skye. He then proceeded to snatch families from their crofts during the night and herded them aboard the ship William. When Norman had finished his kidnapping spree, the ship had a cargo of Gealic speaking men, women and children from the Islands of Harris and Skye headed for the cotton plantations in America.
This ship became known as the Soitheach Nan Daoine.
The William set sail with one hundred upwards prisoners on board, but at Rum about five boys and girls were put ashore because they were too young. At Canna about four more people and the corpse of a young women who died on board were landed, and at Jura 'an old sick man' and 'two big-bellied women' were also off-loaded. Witnesses have stated that they did not hear that any care was taken of the persons put on shore. After riding out a storm and suffering some damage, the William tied up at the wharfs in Donaghadee, Ireland on 20th October 1739 with ninety-six prisoners. Allowing ship to be repaired, stored and watered for the voyage to America the prisoners were landed and locked up in two barns. The men in one, the women and children in the other, they were confined (imprisoned), watched and guarded by the orders of the said Norman MacLeod and William Davison, the ships master.
Fortunately the prisoners however managed to escape on the night of the 04th November and dispersed themselves into parts of the neighbouring country. William Davison, Norman MacLeod plus several assistants, some of them armed, went in pursuit. One small party was caught on the road to Bangor, others were found hiding on a nearby boat. They were all bound with their hands behind their backs and driven with cruel blows to Donaghadee, there they where were flung, still bound into the hold.
In November 1739 the magistrates of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland reported that they had received an alarming report that above 90 felons had escaped from a ship that had touched there on her passage from the Highlands of Scotland to America and had dispersed themselves over the neighbouring countryside. By this time the authorities became aware of the situation and the Magistrates issued warrants for the arrest of Norman MacLeod of Unish, and William Davison, but they had already made their escape.
The Magistrates then carried out a thorough enquiry. Members of the crew of the “William” some of whom jumped ship out of abhorrence and hatred of the forcible carrying off of the people were interrogated and, near thirty women and children who had been carried off were brought before the Magistrates. Many of whom did not seem to exceed ten years of age, and the remainder for the most part were young persons. It was noted that in the whole they were miserable objects of compassion and the most helpless creatures that ever appeared to us.
On being examined through an interpreter they were found from the youngest to the oldest to agree in their circumstances that they had been forced with the most inhuman violence out of the Islands of Skye and Harris and put on board the ship William of Donaghadee of which William Davison was the master.
They were herded onto the ship confined in the hold and deprived of all manner of resource.
They had never seen any Court of Justice, had never been tried for any crime or ever had any sentence of transportation or punishment passed on them. The authorities found the Highlanders temporary lodgings at Herdstown House about a mile from Donaghadee. From there most of them settled on the lands of the Earl of Antrim. Very few, after great difficulties and trials managed to return to the Islands.
Strange as it may seem, Norman MacLeod of Unish b. 1715 was supported in this outrageous affair by his father Donald MacLeod of Berneray, Tacksman of Unish commonly known as 'Old Trojan’, plus Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan. The estates of both Sir Alexander MacDonald and MacLeod of Dunvegan had for many years suffered from the depredations of thieves and beggars and a plan was concerted of getting rid of the pests. Research has uncovered that Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, in collaboration with his brother in law Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan plus other influential people in the Isles were implicated and planned to profit by deporting their clans people and their families to work side by side with slaves in the southern plantations of America in 1739.
This event confirms the momentous change in attitude of the Skye Clan Chiefs, with regard to their clansman, even before the Battle of Culloden. When details of this sordid affair leaked out, the pair faced the threat of prosecution because none of the tenants nor their families had committed any crimes punishable by transportation. The two Chiefs immediately defended themselves by saying the transported were convicted thieves, but subsequent investigation found only four or five of them had ever been accused of sheep stealing and none convicted.
MacLeod of Dunvegan wrote to Duncan Forbes in Dec 1739. He wrote that he was innocent of crimes.
Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat was married to Lady Margaret Montgomery, daughter of Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton. Lady Margaret took a kind and active interest in the welfare of the tenants on the MacDonald estates, which made her deservedly popular. Sir Alexander, being a little bit more human than his predecessor, was also popular. (That's what history books say.) Due to the considerable alarm and excitement that occurred in Skye and Harris over the kidnapping of families and the rumor that MacDonald of Sleat concurred with the forcing of people away prompted Lady Margaret to write a letter dated Jan 1, 1740 to Lord Justice-Clerk Milton expressing her concern and stated the rumors were false. She also wrote in her letter, "that one Norman M'Leod with a number of fellows he had pick'd up to execute his intentions, were the real actors of this affair".
Both MacDonald and MacLeod pledged their support for the Lord President of the Court of Session Duncan Forbes's anti-Jacobite policies in the Highlands, thus avoided being brought to trial on account of the transportation issues. MacDonald of SLEAT (MacDonald of the wars) and Macleod were known for their Jacobite sympathies, this meant that they would not support any further Jacobite revolutions.
Norman MacLeod of Unish remained for several years in concealment on the other side of the Irish Sea, but in 1745 he returned to Skye, where he joined the forces of the Government and through the influence of Norman MacLeod of MacLeod received the captaincy of the MacLeod Independent Companies raised during the Jacobite Rising.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at Glenshiel, and in anticipation of aid from the chieftains of Skye sent Clanranald there to plead his case. Only to find that both MacDonald and MacLeod were unwilling to help. Clan Donald fought on the side of the Jacobites during the 1745-46 uprising, these being Clan Ranald, Keppoch & Glengarry. Clan Donald of Sleat did not take part in the Jacobite Uprising therefore the SLEAT possessions remained intact. (The Clan Donald story at Culloden is a separate story.)
After Culloden on 16th April 1746 the Clan system ceased and life on Skye became unsettled. The demise of the Clan System made the people of Scotland a product of a vanished era. This situation immediately made it clear that the fabled Clan Loyalties were all upward from the clansmen to the chiefs and did not apply in reverse. Lack of employment due to changes in farming directly caused the highland Clearances.
Further research of State papers concerning the Western Isles brings to light a letter undated but marked on the back 1739 and written by Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat stating :
"Last year MacLeod and I in a conversation we had were regretting that we could not light on some effectual method for preventing theft in the Isle, or preventing the return of such thieves as were, from time to time, sent out off the island, and we agreed at last that the best method was to endeavour to get some clever fellow that would take them on board a ship and carry them over the plantations and by that means we would get rid of all the thieves we had discovered, and the terror of the thing would prevent theft in time to come. Accordingly a young man in this country apprehended all the thieves in this country and put them aboard."
He went on to state "that 26 were taken from Trotternish and near 50 from MacLeod country." He added "there was no order of mine for apprehending anybody. There is no regular sentence of court passed on any of them - I mean for transporting."
At this time there was a great shortage of labour in the colonies and it was quite usual for the government to transport people convicted of crimes, especially that of theft and rebellion, to be indentured as servants. Many of the prisoners after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 (including the Macleods) were disposed of in this way. Prison accommodation was limited as well as nauseating and unfit for human habitation, and it was a merciful as well as a profitable way of disposing of prisoners. The slave trade of West Indian plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy. The slave trade in the Caribbean area is another story. The judicial powers varied this procedure by obliging some to enlist in the Regiments that friends were raising.
Much of this episode has been pushed under the carpet, but many documented cases have been explored by researchers trying to fathom out if it was the start of the Highland Clearances or, just pure greed. The abduction and human trafficking originated in the highest echelons of Scottish society.
Some headstones in the Donaghadee area bear the Surnames of Scottish Highlanders.
On his father's death in 1783 Norman MacLeod of Unish, as eldest son succeeded him as Tacksman of Berneray, where he introduced many improvements in the system of farming then prevalent in the Isles, began the manufacture of kelp on a large scale, by 1827 the Kelp industry was finished. He imported stock of a superior kind for breeding. He was considered one of the most enlightened Tacksman of his day in the Western Isles. It is said that he was so thoroughly ashamed in later years of his conduct as leader of the kidnapping episode of 1739 and that he strongly and angrily resented any reference to it. In the traditions of Berneray, his memory is still as having been kind and considerate to his tenants.
He married his second cousin Margaret, the daughter of Roderick MacNeil 14th of Barra. Norman MacLeod of Berneray and his wife Margaret (nee MacNeil) had five children, all of whom died in infancy.
Norman MacLeod 6th of the MacLeods of Bernerary died at home in May 1803 in his eighty-eighth year, and having left no surviving male issue was succeeded in the representation of the family of Berneray by a nephew.
The Slave Act in the UK dated 25 March 1807 abolished the slave trade but not slavery itself. Owning and working slaves remained legal until the Slavery Act 1833.
Transportation and The Highland clearances continued until 1881.
Researched and written: - Donald J. McDonald March 2010
Interest was generated in this deplorable event in the history of the Hebrides by an article in The Scotsman in October 2016. Norman MacLeod, later tacksman of Berneray, was heavily implicated in the bad deeds described.
Thanks to Donald McDonald of Adelaide, Australia for contributing the text below, which he researched and compiled himself. Also thanks to Norman MacLeod for sourcing the material and sending it in to us.
In October 1739 Norman Macleod was a young man twenty-four years of age; he was the leader of a party of five kidnappers who were chosen by himself for the purpose of capturing men and women from the Isle of Skye and the Bays of Harris and transporting them as an illegal shipment of "human cargo" to America.
For what purpose?… to be sold into slavery.
24 year old Norman brought the ship 'William' to the Islands and arrived at Skye. He then proceeded to snatch families from their crofts during the night and herded them aboard the ship William. When Norman had finished his kidnapping spree, the ship had a cargo of Gealic speaking men, women and children from the Islands of Harris and Skye headed for the cotton plantations in America.
This ship became known as the Soitheach Nan Daoine.
The William set sail with one hundred upwards prisoners on board, but at Rum about five boys and girls were put ashore because they were too young. At Canna about four more people and the corpse of a young women who died on board were landed, and at Jura 'an old sick man' and 'two big-bellied women' were also off-loaded. Witnesses have stated that they did not hear that any care was taken of the persons put on shore. After riding out a storm and suffering some damage, the William tied up at the wharfs in Donaghadee, Ireland on 20th October 1739 with ninety-six prisoners. Allowing ship to be repaired, stored and watered for the voyage to America the prisoners were landed and locked up in two barns. The men in one, the women and children in the other, they were confined (imprisoned), watched and guarded by the orders of the said Norman MacLeod and William Davison, the ships master.
Fortunately the prisoners however managed to escape on the night of the 04th November and dispersed themselves into parts of the neighbouring country. William Davison, Norman MacLeod plus several assistants, some of them armed, went in pursuit. One small party was caught on the road to Bangor, others were found hiding on a nearby boat. They were all bound with their hands behind their backs and driven with cruel blows to Donaghadee, there they where were flung, still bound into the hold.
In November 1739 the magistrates of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland reported that they had received an alarming report that above 90 felons had escaped from a ship that had touched there on her passage from the Highlands of Scotland to America and had dispersed themselves over the neighbouring countryside. By this time the authorities became aware of the situation and the Magistrates issued warrants for the arrest of Norman MacLeod of Unish, and William Davison, but they had already made their escape.
The Magistrates then carried out a thorough enquiry. Members of the crew of the “William” some of whom jumped ship out of abhorrence and hatred of the forcible carrying off of the people were interrogated and, near thirty women and children who had been carried off were brought before the Magistrates. Many of whom did not seem to exceed ten years of age, and the remainder for the most part were young persons. It was noted that in the whole they were miserable objects of compassion and the most helpless creatures that ever appeared to us.
On being examined through an interpreter they were found from the youngest to the oldest to agree in their circumstances that they had been forced with the most inhuman violence out of the Islands of Skye and Harris and put on board the ship William of Donaghadee of which William Davison was the master.
They were herded onto the ship confined in the hold and deprived of all manner of resource.
They had never seen any Court of Justice, had never been tried for any crime or ever had any sentence of transportation or punishment passed on them. The authorities found the Highlanders temporary lodgings at Herdstown House about a mile from Donaghadee. From there most of them settled on the lands of the Earl of Antrim. Very few, after great difficulties and trials managed to return to the Islands.
Strange as it may seem, Norman MacLeod of Unish b. 1715 was supported in this outrageous affair by his father Donald MacLeod of Berneray, Tacksman of Unish commonly known as 'Old Trojan’, plus Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan. The estates of both Sir Alexander MacDonald and MacLeod of Dunvegan had for many years suffered from the depredations of thieves and beggars and a plan was concerted of getting rid of the pests. Research has uncovered that Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, in collaboration with his brother in law Norman MacLeod of Dunvegan plus other influential people in the Isles were implicated and planned to profit by deporting their clans people and their families to work side by side with slaves in the southern plantations of America in 1739.
This event confirms the momentous change in attitude of the Skye Clan Chiefs, with regard to their clansman, even before the Battle of Culloden. When details of this sordid affair leaked out, the pair faced the threat of prosecution because none of the tenants nor their families had committed any crimes punishable by transportation. The two Chiefs immediately defended themselves by saying the transported were convicted thieves, but subsequent investigation found only four or five of them had ever been accused of sheep stealing and none convicted.
MacLeod of Dunvegan wrote to Duncan Forbes in Dec 1739. He wrote that he was innocent of crimes.
Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat was married to Lady Margaret Montgomery, daughter of Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton. Lady Margaret took a kind and active interest in the welfare of the tenants on the MacDonald estates, which made her deservedly popular. Sir Alexander, being a little bit more human than his predecessor, was also popular. (That's what history books say.) Due to the considerable alarm and excitement that occurred in Skye and Harris over the kidnapping of families and the rumor that MacDonald of Sleat concurred with the forcing of people away prompted Lady Margaret to write a letter dated Jan 1, 1740 to Lord Justice-Clerk Milton expressing her concern and stated the rumors were false. She also wrote in her letter, "that one Norman M'Leod with a number of fellows he had pick'd up to execute his intentions, were the real actors of this affair".
Both MacDonald and MacLeod pledged their support for the Lord President of the Court of Session Duncan Forbes's anti-Jacobite policies in the Highlands, thus avoided being brought to trial on account of the transportation issues. MacDonald of SLEAT (MacDonald of the wars) and Macleod were known for their Jacobite sympathies, this meant that they would not support any further Jacobite revolutions.
Norman MacLeod of Unish remained for several years in concealment on the other side of the Irish Sea, but in 1745 he returned to Skye, where he joined the forces of the Government and through the influence of Norman MacLeod of MacLeod received the captaincy of the MacLeod Independent Companies raised during the Jacobite Rising.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at Glenshiel, and in anticipation of aid from the chieftains of Skye sent Clanranald there to plead his case. Only to find that both MacDonald and MacLeod were unwilling to help. Clan Donald fought on the side of the Jacobites during the 1745-46 uprising, these being Clan Ranald, Keppoch & Glengarry. Clan Donald of Sleat did not take part in the Jacobite Uprising therefore the SLEAT possessions remained intact. (The Clan Donald story at Culloden is a separate story.)
After Culloden on 16th April 1746 the Clan system ceased and life on Skye became unsettled. The demise of the Clan System made the people of Scotland a product of a vanished era. This situation immediately made it clear that the fabled Clan Loyalties were all upward from the clansmen to the chiefs and did not apply in reverse. Lack of employment due to changes in farming directly caused the highland Clearances.
Further research of State papers concerning the Western Isles brings to light a letter undated but marked on the back 1739 and written by Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat stating :
"Last year MacLeod and I in a conversation we had were regretting that we could not light on some effectual method for preventing theft in the Isle, or preventing the return of such thieves as were, from time to time, sent out off the island, and we agreed at last that the best method was to endeavour to get some clever fellow that would take them on board a ship and carry them over the plantations and by that means we would get rid of all the thieves we had discovered, and the terror of the thing would prevent theft in time to come. Accordingly a young man in this country apprehended all the thieves in this country and put them aboard."
He went on to state "that 26 were taken from Trotternish and near 50 from MacLeod country." He added "there was no order of mine for apprehending anybody. There is no regular sentence of court passed on any of them - I mean for transporting."
At this time there was a great shortage of labour in the colonies and it was quite usual for the government to transport people convicted of crimes, especially that of theft and rebellion, to be indentured as servants. Many of the prisoners after the Battle of Worcester in 1651 (including the Macleods) were disposed of in this way. Prison accommodation was limited as well as nauseating and unfit for human habitation, and it was a merciful as well as a profitable way of disposing of prisoners. The slave trade of West Indian plantations amounted to 5% of the British economy. The slave trade in the Caribbean area is another story. The judicial powers varied this procedure by obliging some to enlist in the Regiments that friends were raising.
Much of this episode has been pushed under the carpet, but many documented cases have been explored by researchers trying to fathom out if it was the start of the Highland Clearances or, just pure greed. The abduction and human trafficking originated in the highest echelons of Scottish society.
Some headstones in the Donaghadee area bear the Surnames of Scottish Highlanders.
On his father's death in 1783 Norman MacLeod of Unish, as eldest son succeeded him as Tacksman of Berneray, where he introduced many improvements in the system of farming then prevalent in the Isles, began the manufacture of kelp on a large scale, by 1827 the Kelp industry was finished. He imported stock of a superior kind for breeding. He was considered one of the most enlightened Tacksman of his day in the Western Isles. It is said that he was so thoroughly ashamed in later years of his conduct as leader of the kidnapping episode of 1739 and that he strongly and angrily resented any reference to it. In the traditions of Berneray, his memory is still as having been kind and considerate to his tenants.
He married his second cousin Margaret, the daughter of Roderick MacNeil 14th of Barra. Norman MacLeod of Berneray and his wife Margaret (nee MacNeil) had five children, all of whom died in infancy.
Norman MacLeod 6th of the MacLeods of Bernerary died at home in May 1803 in his eighty-eighth year, and having left no surviving male issue was succeeded in the representation of the family of Berneray by a nephew.
The Slave Act in the UK dated 25 March 1807 abolished the slave trade but not slavery itself. Owning and working slaves remained legal until the Slavery Act 1833.
Transportation and The Highland clearances continued until 1881.
Researched and written: - Donald J. McDonald March 2010
