Corpach (Fort William)
October 1, 2020
Steven Ingram was my final Harbour Master of 2020.
With a view of Ben Nevis from his office, it is clear Steven loves his job as the guardian of the western entrance to the Caledonian Canal. His stretch is from the "sea" Loch Linnhe to the "fresh water" Loch Lochy sitting 100 ft "above him", several miles up the Great Glen accessed via 13 giant locks including the famous Neptune's Staircase.
No-one travels the canal without Steven either seeing them or hearing them on the VHF - skippers have to radio ahead at certain points to ask bridges to open. Operations are very slick, with locks, swing bridges and "packets" of boats grouped together to transit the lock flights. During his time as HM he has seen some extraordinary boats pass: a cruise liner just one foot narrower than the canal, a paddle boat dressed up as the Loch Ness Monster and a Royal Marines hovercraft!
Luckily Steven is a marine engineer, as keeping the canal in good working order is more difficult than it looks! 20 years after Thomas Telford completed it in 1822, the canal wall collapsed and it took 4 years to rebuild. Photo 7 in Steven's office shows a more recent collapse near Corpach.
The initial reason for planning the canal was to provide a short-cut for the Royal Navy to cross Scotland, avoiding the "stormy and treacherous" Pentland Firth while chasing the French fleet. By completion in 1822 the French fleet had long gone and RN and commercial ships were too large, so the primary users became fishermen...
By chance, a friend of mine was sailing a rare Zulu class 1911 fishing boat back from Arbroath to be restored in Ullapool - where he is Harbour Master! Back in July Kevin Peach had welcomed me to his harbour with a bottle of malt whisky which we were finally able to share on board, with the famous boat builder Dan Johnson of Johnson and Loftus shipwrights. Good Dog had the pleasure of escorting her from Corpach to the Corran Narrows - a fitting end to a fantastic summer of sailing.
With a view of Ben Nevis from his office, it is clear Steven loves his job as the guardian of the western entrance to the Caledonian Canal. His stretch is from the "sea" Loch Linnhe to the "fresh water" Loch Lochy sitting 100 ft "above him", several miles up the Great Glen accessed via 13 giant locks including the famous Neptune's Staircase.
No-one travels the canal without Steven either seeing them or hearing them on the VHF - skippers have to radio ahead at certain points to ask bridges to open. Operations are very slick, with locks, swing bridges and "packets" of boats grouped together to transit the lock flights. During his time as HM he has seen some extraordinary boats pass: a cruise liner just one foot narrower than the canal, a paddle boat dressed up as the Loch Ness Monster and a Royal Marines hovercraft!
Luckily Steven is a marine engineer, as keeping the canal in good working order is more difficult than it looks! 20 years after Thomas Telford completed it in 1822, the canal wall collapsed and it took 4 years to rebuild. Photo 7 in Steven's office shows a more recent collapse near Corpach.
The initial reason for planning the canal was to provide a short-cut for the Royal Navy to cross Scotland, avoiding the "stormy and treacherous" Pentland Firth while chasing the French fleet. By completion in 1822 the French fleet had long gone and RN and commercial ships were too large, so the primary users became fishermen...
By chance, a friend of mine was sailing a rare Zulu class 1911 fishing boat back from Arbroath to be restored in Ullapool - where he is Harbour Master! Back in July Kevin Peach had welcomed me to his harbour with a bottle of malt whisky which we were finally able to share on board, with the famous boat builder Dan Johnson of Johnson and Loftus shipwrights. Good Dog had the pleasure of escorting her from Corpach to the Corran Narrows - a fitting end to a fantastic summer of sailing.