49465: Captain M S Macdonald

Excerpt from an article that appeared in the Hebridean

Murdo Stewart Macdonald was the 6th child of John Macdonald ‘an Domhnullach’ of Tigh a Chaolais. An Domhnullach was the son of Donald Macdonald, tacksman of Little Bernera and he was married to Catherine Stewart daughter of Kenneth Stewart tacksman of Hacklete. Murdo Stewart was married to Elizabeth O’Keefe and had two sons. He was born about 1852 in Tigh a Chaolais and died in Mauritius where he had settled in 1887, and where he was Lloyd’s surveyor of British and foreign shipping

He was a captain, apparently of some repute and was much in demand in the cargo trade. It is said that he was at home in Bernera in 1882 and was engaged in shooting wild birds in Little Bernera when he received a telegram asking him to report to Greenock to take captaincy of a vessel. To receive a telegram meant much then, the nearest telegraph office being in Stornoway. With no roads to speak of the telegram must have been brought to Callanish by cart, then by boat to Bernera, then on foot to Croir, then again by boat across to Little Bernera. However, Murdo made his way to Stornoway to send a reply asking for the name of the ship he was to have charge of.
The answer came back -‘Sir Lancelot’ one of the most famous clippers on the China run. Murdo left the same night for Greenock where he met the managing owner Mr James MacCunn and said he had been recommended to him by the owners of his last command – the Assynt.
Murdo agreed terms and assumed command of the ship which was berthed on the Tyne where it was loading and bound for Java. Before they weighed anchor he asked the chief officer to go aloft to examine the spars. He reported that all were in good condition, but Murdo went aloft himself and found dry rot. The next day he asked the ‘overlooker’ a Captain Neil to replace the chief officer, which was done. However he wasn’t very impressed with the new first mate when they left the Tyne in a strong, fair wind. The 1st mate, looking pale, asked him to take in sail or the ship would lose its masts. Murdo refused and asked what was wrong with the man. He replied that he had been in command for six years and that the whole crew were taken off in mid-Atlantic when the ship was waterlogged and they had been living on bread and water for days. Murdo told him that he had lost his nerve and to never take in sail without consulting him first. He had no more trouble after that with the man.
The Sir Lancelot was a very fast vessel and frequently overtook other ships on the same routes by a matter of days.
In 1886 he negotiated the sale of Sir Lancelot to a merchant in Bombay. He was in Mauritius and loaded a cargo of cotton bound for France. He agreed to sail the boat to Bombay after this journey in 1887 and settled in Mauritius where he died.
The Sir Lancelot was lost in the Bay of Bengal in 1895 with a cargo of salt bound for Calcutta. She was said to have made the fastest passage from China to London under the command of Richard Robinson.
The Sir Lancelot and her sister ship the Ariel were called Robert Steele’s (the builder) beauties for their beautiful lines.