Stranded islanders touched by strangers’ kindness

“There we were, sitting in our vehicles, waiting for the ferry to depart Tayinloan and wondering why it was that the ferry was berthed when it should have been coming back to the mainland from our island at that time,” said Kenny.

“A glance at the electronic noticeboard gave us a clue – seemingly the hoped-for 2pm sailing had been cancelled, presumably because the work on the vessel’s engine was taking longer than usual to fix. 

“But then another, much more concerning, message came up on the board, because there had been a further and much more serious fault in the engine, stating that ‘all sailings had now been cancelled’. Now that was a problem!”

Kenny, like several others waiting in the ferry queue at Tayinloan, was on his way home from work, and he had shopping in the car that would spoil if it could not be refrigerated. They also realised they would have to find overnight accommodation if the service did not resume. 

Despite his frustration, Kenny was grateful to one of the ferry crew for keeping them informed about what was happening.

He said: “To his great credit, one of the ferrymen came up into the car park to apologise personally to the prospective passengers and to let us know that the engine problem had now escalated to being a very serious one. Doing this, he gained our respect, for he didn’t have to do that. 

“As you might expect, those of us who were left stranded wondered what might happen to the children and young people, who came from the island to the mainland each day for their schooling and whose school bus would arrive soon.”

This is where the kindness of strangers came in, when some thoughtful creel fishermen, unknown to those who were stranded, came to the rescue.

Kenny explained: “Having just unloaded their cargo of shellfish down at the pier and then anchored in the bay, some lobstermen approached us and asked if they could be of help, offering to transport us and our shopping to Gigha. 

“I think we were all a bit stunned at this offer at first but then we said a grateful, ‘Yes please and thanks’ to the fishermen, parked and locked our cars, and started down to the ferry slip with our belongings, where we were taken aboard the lobsterman’s boat which had now been brought to shore.”

He added: “One of my fellow passengers was a former ferry skipper and, as we crossed from Tayinloan to Gigha, I asked him if he’d ever done this before, travelled by lobster boat to Gigha. To my surprise, he told me that he had never done this in all his years of working on the ferry.”

When they arrived at Gigha and berthed at the island’s south pier, they were met not only by friends and family ready to transport them the rest of the way home, but also by people who had heard about the generous offer of transport and were waiting to be taken off the island back to the mainland.

Kenny has thanked the fishermen, with whom he forgot to exchange names, for their generosity.

“Those lobstermen didn’t have to make us that offer,” he said. “I didn’t know them or their names and couldn’t ever recall having a conversation with them in my decade of living on Gigha. But their kindness was so evident and they were so pleased to be able to help, despite them having to delay their own journeys home, that I couldn’t help be moved by that kindness; the kindness of strangers.

“They gave us a new adventure and I now even have a video to show my family – and our shopping got home in one piece and still cold!

“Kindness – perhaps the most underestimated value in our world today – and I and others came across it, in abundance, on the Sound Of Gigha, on Monday thanks to the lobstermen and their generous offer.”

A spokeswoman for CalMac said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience and disruption that the loss of service caused to passengers who were unable to travel to and from Gigha during this period.”