seamen, in the adjacent village of
Athelstoneford.*

* Fletcher's Memorial, quoted by Crichton.

The four military prisoners in the Bass observed
that when a boat came periodically with
coals and provisions for the garrison, it was
the custom for all the soldiers, except three, to
descend to the landing-place at the plateau of
rock, outside the walls, to assist in the
unloading; and on the 15th of June, 1689, they
availed themselves of this fortunate circumstance
to seize upon arms and take the castle
by surprise.

They simply rushed upon the gates, closed
and secured them, and made themselves
completely masters of the place, by threatening to
fire both cannon and musketry upon the
excluded soldiers, who were compelled, rather
reluctantly and foolishly, to abandon the rock in
the coal boat.

Of the garrison, the Jacobites retained only
a sergeant round La Fosse, Swan the gunner,
and a soldier on whom they could depend.
They then discharged a cannon or two, and
hoisted the standard of King James.

Next day they were joined by Captain Maitland,
the late deputy-governor, and a few hours
after by David Blair and William Crawford,
usually styled Ardmillan. He was the eldest
son of Crawford, of Baidland (who was also of
Ardmillan, in right of his wife, who was a
Kennedy), and he joined in this wild and rash
affair, though on the point of marriage with a
young girl possessed of great attractions—
Margaret Kennedy, of Balderstone. He brought
with him his servant and two Irish seamen,
named Newport and Cornelius O'Brien, with
whom he put off to the Bass on a dark night,
seizing a long boat that lay upon the coast near
Dirlton. The two Irishmen had just effected
their escape from the Tolbooth of Leith, where
they had been committed as spies of King
James from Ireland.

So now those thirteen men prepared to set
all Britain at defiance.

On hearing of their proceedings, and in fear
of what they might lead to, the privy council
at Edinburgh was greatly enraged, and placed
Lieutenant Wood, the commander of the
detachment (who had been amusing himself in the
city), under arrest for neglect of duty, and a
party of troops were stationed in the hamlet of
Castleton, opposite the isle, to cut off all
communication between it and the mainland. This
party was soon after reinforced by another, under
three officers, sent by Sir Thomas Livingstone,
the commander-in-chief, the more effectually to
blockade the Bass.

Many months elapsed, and that inaccessible
fortress was watched in vain. Its little garrison
derided all efforts to subdue them, and
kept King James's flag flying in defiance of the
Scottish government, leading a merry life the
while among the clouds of white sea-birds which
made the Bass their haunt, and they had no
lack of stirring adventures by sea and land.

Anxious, perhaps, to see his mistress, young
Ardmillan more than once went boldly to the
mainland, and, in returning, brought off a good
supply of provisions; but there were times when
the weather was stormy, and the ocean rough,
that made them fain to be content with the
rank and rancid flesh of the solan geese,* dressed
with the laver, or seaweed, that grows on the
rocks.

* These birds were protected by an act of the
Legislature, which forbade the seamen and
inhabitants of North Berwick, Dunbar, Fisher-row,
and all others, to destroy them. Vide Ratificatioun
of an act of Secreit Counsaill in favour of Maister
George Lauder, of the Bass. 1592.—Acta
Parliamentorum Jacobi VI.

To further the blockade, two small armed
vessels were now ordered to cruise between the
isle and the shore; but this was perilous work,
as the walls were mounted with fourteen pieces
of cannon.

A sergeant and drummer, bearing a flag of
truce, were sent by the officer at Castleton to the
holders of the Bass, who allowed them to land,
and immediately disarmed and made them
prisoners. A boat was then sent round to a
part of the isle, beyond range of cannon-shot, to
demand their release, and the surrender of the
craft in which they had come. They were
ultimately given up; but the boat was retained for
the use of the garrison. Ignorant of what was
passing, the skipper of a Danish galliot brought
her within range of their guns. Though we
were at peace with Christian the Fifth, she was
compelled to shorten sail, and was sacked of all
she contained. After this, in defiance of the
exasperated council, the garrison—if it can be
called such—by predatory boating expeditions
in the long dark nights of autumn, "laid all
the coast between the Tyne and Tay under
contribution.''†

† Robert Chambers's Domestic Annals.

The government were literally powerless.

The island was too far from the mainland to
be bombarded in those days, when Lancaster
guns and rifled cannon were unknown; and its
cliff-built battlements were far above the range
of any ship's artillery, while those of the castle
were alike heavy and well supplied. The idea
of assaulting the Bass was never conceived; but
an attempt was made to cut off the two
boats of the garrison—one a Norwegian skiff,
which they drew up to the ramparts by
means of a powerful crane (part of which is
still lying there) beside a well loopholed tower;
and the other, which belonged to Ardmillan,
and was capable of containing twenty men; this
they usually secured by drawing it up high and
dry upon the plateau of rock, when it was
alike protected by the cannon of the curtain
wall and the loopholes of the spur; and
there it lay safely till one dark night, when
some bold fellows landed unseen at the plateau,
launched it, and towed it away to the
mainland.

This was a severe loss; but Middleton and