Dornoch Historylinks Image Library

The wreck of the "Courier" is mentioned in a book entitled "The Shipwrecks of North East Scotland" by David M Ferguson, published in 1991 by Aberdeen University Press. The book describes how a severe storm struck Scotland on 22 & 23 December 1876. It was said that the easterly gales in the North Sea reached Force 12 and the wind was accompanied by heavy snow. There were scores of wrecks up and down the coast, many of them involving Scandinavian and German vessels. On the evening of the 22 December 1876, a German vessel called the Courier, which had sailed from Hull fully laden with coal, struck Craig Carnaig rock on Dornoch beach and sank with the loss of all but one of the crew. This seems to tally with the Dornoch Police Diary (2004.005) except for the nationality of the vessel but perhaps "Prussian" and "Russian" got confused in some reports.

It used to be quite common to find pieces of coal on the beach but there seems to be far more sand there now and you would have difficulty finding Craig Carnaig.

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