The weather had changed dramatically overnight before Queen Elizabeth’s scheduled visit to Mull in August 1956. A strong westerly gale had blown up, and as the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret made their way back to the Royal Yacht Britannia after a short stop in Oban they had to battle against 60mph winds and driving rain.
Even within the sheltered water of Oban Bay, Britannia was in danger of slipping her anchor; but the Queen was adamant that she would make the scheduled journey to Mull.
Image © Argyllshire Advertiser/Wyvex Media. Reproduced with permission and thanks.
As the tender arrived at the jetty at Craignure a great cheer went up from the drenched crowd, and as the launch pulled alongside a wave lifted the boat and Her Majesty leaped for the pier! She jumped with some gusto into the arms of the harbour master - a large man called George Clyne. George gathered her up safely, and she was apparently very grateful to him for stopping her falling back to the rather angry sea.
The Royal party were accompanied by Sir Charles H.F. Maclean of Duart, Lord Lieutenant of Argyll; and had been intending to have lunch at Duart Castle, but the storm - the worst August storm for many years in Argyll - had thrown plans into chaos and much to the disappointment of the staff that had prepared the lovely meal of cold lobster and salmon (Loch Scridain) lamb cutlets (Lismore) with broad beans, peas and potatoes; cold lamb, cold beef (Scottish), and crème brulée with Argyll strawberries and raspberries; it had to be missed. The Queen was only able to spend 25 minutes with the Maclean family at Duart before heading off to Tobermory.
The Queen travelled to Tobermory in a taxi that was owned by Mrs Sharpe. During the journey one of the windscreens wipers fell off in the pouring rain, and Prince Philip was very concerned that they were going to end up in a ditch. On subsequent visits he would always ask if Mrs Sharpe had found a new wiper for her car.
The Royal party left from the pier in Tobermory to return to Britannia. Right to the end the Queen was smiling, greeting and talking to local people. Sir Lachlan Maclean of Duart (who was 16 at the time) tells that he will always remember her cheerfulness and determination to come to Mull. The enthusiasm and respect for what the Queen had achieved on that day was never forgotten.
At the old jetty in Craignure, Mr & Mrs Pettigrew of Kilfinichen put up a carved stone to commemorate the occasion.
You will need to visit that stone in order to find the following numbers and then perform some simple arithmetic to locate the cache.
A = number of Zs in the text
B = Number of Ms in the text
C = number of words on the 5th line
D = number of words on the last line
E = number of creels on the jetty
The cache is hidden at: N56 28.[A][B+D][A+B] W005 42.[B-D][C+C][A+A]
Many thanks to Sir Lachlan Maclean for his eyewitness account of the story, and to Angus Milner-Brown for further detail.
Please beware: It is likely to be slippery underfoot, and George will not be there to save you. The stone may not be accessible during high tides.