A sea chase, shipwreck and the Skirmish at Tongue
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Today marks the 275th anniversary of the Skirmish at Tongue. Here retired Farr High School head teacher Jim Johnston, recounts the background to the dramatic confrontation between Jacobites and Government troops.
In late March 1746 the British sloop of war, HMS Hazard, now renamed Le Prince Charles and under the command of the Jacobites, was fleeing through the Pentland Firth and along the North Coast with the 24 gun frigate, HMS Sheerness, in hot pursuit.
Le Prince Charles carried a cargo which, if only she could outrun the British Navy, could provide a vital boost for the rebel army, led by the Bonnie Prince, then billeted in Inverness and its environs.
In her hold, together with chests of pistols and sabres, barrels of gunpowder and boxes of ammunition were six wooden chests of treasure: £13,000.00 worth of gold coins – more than enough to feed and pay Prince Charles’ increasingly demoralised army.
On the afternoon of March 25, Le Prince Charles entered the shallow waters of the Kyle of Tongue in the hope of shaking off her relentless pursuer. However, the sloop soon grounded on a sandbank on the Melness side where the Sheerness was able to bring her guns to bear.
A ‘fearful cannonade’ ensued in which Le Prince Charles was dismasted, badly damaged, and lost several of her gunners and crew. Dusk brought an end to the shelling and, with the rising tide and in the cover of darkness Le Prince Charles drifted onto the shore.
The survivors of her 120 crew, together with 60 troops of French, Irish and Spanish origin, after recruiting a local guide, fled round the head of the Kyle in the hope to carrying the vital gold to their master in Inverness.
But, on the morning of the March 26 – 275 years ago today – met their nemesis in the vicinity of Lochan Hakel in the shape of 300 Government troops assembled from Lord Reay’s militia and a visiting regiment of Lord Louden’s men who, by chance, were in the vicinity.
After a brief exchange of musketry and the drawing of swords, the demoralised Jacobites, 156 in all, were taken prisoner and eventually transferred to Edinburgh in the hold of the Sheerness.
And the gold? None of it reached Bonnie Prince Charles. Much of it was distributed as prize money to the gentry responsible for the militias and, in lesser and lesser amounts, to those who had confronted the rebels.
But, it is said that some of the gold was never recovered – one chest was allegedly completely missing and another had been broken open.
The Jacobites are said to have tried to dispose of the gold by throwing it in to the nearby loch. So there may still be some out there – an intriguing possibility.
Myths about the gold still linger and a documentary is due to premiere on April 16 to mark the 275th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden featuring the search for lost treasure. It can be viewed free at ashleycowie.com/blog/highland-gold
Incidentally, the Skirmish at Tongue led directly to the Skirmish at Littleferry which featured in last week’s Northern Times as, on hearing of the debacle with the gold at Tongue, Prince Charles detached around a thousand of his best men to foray northwards and recover it. These being the Jacobites whose luck ran out near Golspie leaving Prince Charles army seriously depleted as well as without their pay.
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