The Great Storm of '53
The rescue that took place in hurricane-force winds has earned the Clan MacQuarrie - and the village of Borve - a unique place in maritime history.

For never before, or since, had such a large scale rescue taken place using a breeches buoy. The 66 crew and officers were all brought to safety from the stricken vessel. No-one was injured in the operation despite the extraordinarily fierce Atlantic weather that drove the 7,000 ton cargo vessel onto the rocks.

With no modern helicopter rescue service back in the Fifties, the only way to evacuate the crew was by breeches buoy - a lifebelt-like device with sturdy canvas breeches that is suspended from a pulley running along a rope from ship to shore.The Clan MacQuarrie was stranded at Borve until refloated on high Spring tides some two months later.
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Clan MacQuarrie
The Clan MacQuarrie that ran aground that fateful night in 1953 was not the first Clan Line ship to bear the name.

She had originally been purchased by Clan Line in 1948 from the Ministry of War Transport. Built in 1942 and named Ocean Wayfarer, the Clan MacQuarrie was a cargo ship of some 7,131 tons.

She had been on the last lap of a round trip from Glasgow to Malabar and Bombay. Having discharged her cargo of jute at Dundee on Scotland's east coast, Clan MacQuarrie had rounded the north of Scotland and was heading down the west coast towards Glasgow when the dramatic grounding occurred.

Later refloated on high Spring tides, the Clan MacQuarrie was sold as scrap.

Her ultimate fate, however, was less traumatic than that of her predecessor. The original 5,000 ton steam freighter, Clan MacQuarrie was sunk by the Italian submarine, Leonardo Da Vinci, west of Freetown in 1942.
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Clan Line
The Clan Line was founded in 1877 in Liverpool as C. W. Cayzer & Company, trading from the UK to India. The company later rebranded itself as Cayzer, Irvine & Company when Captain William Irvine joined the firm in 1878.

A few years later, in 1881, the company - as it was to become known around the world- became the Clan Line Association of Steamers. With an influential Glasgow entrepreneur on board, the company switched its operations to Glasgow, setting up base at 109 Hope Street, Glasgow.

Over the subsequent decades the Clan Line continued to grew in size and reputation through a series of acquisitions. By the 1920s the company was an international player in the maritime shipping world.

Just over 30 years later, the Clan Line's operation spanned the globe with businesses stretching from South America to South Africa and the British Commonwealth.

Less than fifteen years after celebrating a hundred years of trading, the Clan line ceased trading but Cayzer Irvine managed ships until 1987, including the Stirling Universal for Union-Castle from 1981-1987. When Cayzer sold the British & Commonwealth Shipping Company Cayzer Irvine changed its name to C I Shipping, Limited and managed the ship for a further year prior to its sale to Iran in 1988.
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