Torran Rocks
| Gaelic name | Na Torrain |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | "loud murmering or thunder" |
| Location | |
 Torran Rocks
Torran Rocks within Argyll and Bute
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| OS grid reference | NM266137 |
| Coordinates | 56°14′13″N 6°24′47″W / 56.237°N 6.413°W |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Mull |
| Highest elevation | c 10 m |
| Administration | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Scotland |
| Council area | Argyll and Bute |
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The Torran Rocks are a group of small islands and skerries located between the islands of Mull and Colonsay in Scotland.
The main rocks are Dearg Sgeir, MacPhail's Anvil, Na Torrain, Torran Sgoilte and Torr an t-Saothaid although there are numerous others including the southernmost of Sgeir Dhoirbh (or Otter Rock). They cover an area of about 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi) some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the tidal island of Erraid and the Ross of Mull. The largest islets of Na Torrain reach 10 metres (33 ft) or more above sea level and are up to 150 metres (490 ft) long. West Reef is made up of half a dozen skerries about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Na Torrain.
Between 1867 and 1872 a lighthouse was built on the isolated reef of Dubh Artach some 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) to the south west in response to the hazards these rocks jointly presented to shipping. Between 1800 and 1854 thirty ships were wrecked on the Torrans with the loss of over fifty lives. An astonishing 24 vessels were lost in the area in a storm on 30–31 December 1865. The writer Hamish Haswell-Smith describes the rocks as "being scattered over a wide area like dragon's teeth. They lurk menacingly just beneath the surface, occasionally showing themselves in a froth of white spittle". Nicholson (1995) calls them "4½ miles of jumbled granite teeth" and that "the extent and confused nature of this reef claimed untold numbers of vessels plying between America or the Baltic ports and Oban". The reefs are so hazardous that only small boats can hope to navigate them with any degree of safety.
In addition to being a hazard to navigation, they are one of the locations featured in the novel Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was in this "stoneyard" that Alan Breck Stewart and David Balfour were ship-wrecked. David Balfour, the hero of this tale was then marooned on neighbouring Erraid for a while. Stevenson's father, Thomas was the designer of Dubh Artach lighthouse, and the young Robert Louis knew the area well. He wrote of a "black brotherhood - the Torran reef that lies behind, between which and the shore the Iona Steamers" (taking visitors to Iona and Staffa) "have to pick their way on their return to Oban. The tourist on this trip can see upwards of three miles of ocean thickly sown with these fatal rocks, and the sea breaking white and heavy over some and others showing their dark heads threateningly above water".
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Wikipedia