Staffa is a Scottish island, best known for it basalt column formations.

Staffa has been uninhabited since 1800. Although it is said that around 13,500 years ago Staffa was a large plate encompassing many surrounding islands like Iona, Isle of Tull and the Treshnish Isles, although still being separate from the Outter Hebrides. Now, Staffa is a comparatively minuscule kilometer long and half a kilometer wide, encompassing an outer perimeter of three kilometers, and totaling roughly 33 hectares in area. Staffa is located 10 kilometers west off Mull, and 6 kilometers northeast off Iona.

Staffa received its name for the same reason that it is still a popular destination, and the main reason for its acclaim. From the sea, it can be seen that a layer of Staffa is comprised of a Basalt rock layer. This appears to be column like in nature, this lead to Viking explorers dubbing the island Stafa after their vertical log houses.

Staffa also attracts tourists due to its caves. The most prominent and admired of these is Finagl’s Cave. This cave is 20 meters wide and set in the midst of the basalt columns of Staffa. Fingal’s Cave on Staffa has attracted many prestigious visitors including Sir Joseph Banks and Queen Victoria.

The Flannan Isles are a group of islands in Scotland.

The Flannan Isles are located North-West side of Scotland, 32 kilometers west of the Isle of Lewis. The combined land area of the more than dozen islands of the Flannan Isles is half a square kilometer. The highest point of the Flannan Isles is on the island Eilean Mòr and measures 88 meters in height. Although technically the lighthouse on Eilean Mòr is habitable, no one has resided on the Flannan Isles since the automation of its lighthouse in 1971.

In themselves, the Flannan Isles are not particularly interesting, but they do play host to a mystery which has held the interest of many. In 1900 the three lighthouse keepers posted to the island disappeared.

The crew of the Flannan Isles lighthouse consisted of a four man party, three were stationed on the lighthouse with the fourth man being rotated with shore time. It was reported that on the 15th of December 1900 the lighthouse did not light its signal. Due to bad weather this report could not be followed until the 26th of December. When a boat arrived to investigate, it was found that all the gates and doors were closed and no greeting party arrived. Further investigation revealed no sign of any of the keepers, and more suspiciously that their heavy coats were still in the lighthouse. No other clues could be found as to their whereabouts or condition.

And official investigation into the disappearances on the Flannan Isles concluded that it was probably due to bad weather and abnormally large waves that the members of the crew were accidentally carried to sea. Wilder speculations have been made which claimed that it was due to foreign spies, alien abductions or sea serpents.

The Battle of Inverurie was a confrontation that took place during the Jacobite Uprising of 1745.

The Battle of Inverurie took place on the 23rd of December 1745, near Inverurie, Scotland. It was fought between the 1100 men and 5 cannons of the Jacobite forces, led by Lord Lewis Gordon, and the 500 men of the Hanoverians, led by MacLeod of MacLeod.

The Battle of Inverurie took place as a direct action aimed at stopping the recruitment efforts Lord Lewis Gordon. MacLeod of MacLeod was dispatched with his 500 men from Inverness, but had the support of 700 men who were to join his forces later. Unfortunately for MacLeod, the Laird of Grant later withdrew his troops and George Munro of Culcairn has stopped his at Oldmeldrum, leaving MacLeod with no support other than his immediate forces. He chose to march upon Inverurie regardless.

The Battle of Inverurie set of with Lord Lewis Gordon sending 300 of his troops via the main road to Inverurie and the rest by a side road, this was done as a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the main force. This paln came to a point when the smaller division attacked the Hanover forces, which was immediately followed by the charge of the main Jacobite army from the opposite direction. The battle began at four in the afternoon and ended with the MacLeod retreat by moonlight. There are no records indicating the exact amount of casualties suffered by either side, but it is known that 50 prisoners were taken by the Jacobites.

Interestingly, one those that were captured during the Battle of Inverurie was Duncan Ban MacCrimmon, a famous piper. Apparently, the Jacobite pipers refused to play their instruments until the Hanover piper was released. He subsequently was.

1728-1799

Joseph Black was a Scottish physicist during the Scottish Enlightenment.

Joseph Black was born on the 16th of April 1728, in Bordeaux, France. His father, an Irishman from Belfast, was in the wine industry at the time, which is why his family was in France at the time of his birth. The family of his mother, from Aberdeenshire, was also in the wine industry.

Joseph Black began his studies at the University of Glasgow, which he attended for four years. He later attended the University of Edinburgh, at which he made the academic discoveries for which he holds fame.

Joseph Black helped solidify the idea that air was not a single element but a collection of various gases. He did this through a collection of research and experiments on carbon. Joseph Black was also the first person to isolate carbon.

Joseph Black pioneered the field of thermal science via his conception of the concept of latent heat. This is the concept which has thrown Joseph Black into the spotlight of the historic scientific community. This concept led the protégé of Joseph Black, James Watt, to refine the design for his claim to fame, the steam engine.

Joseph Black was awarded the Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1757. He was a member of the “Poker Club”. He also created the highly accurate analytic balance, used for measuring weights.

1688-1766

Prince James was the claimant to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland in both Jacobite Uprisings.

Prince James was born on the 10th of June 1688, in St. James’s Palace, London, England. His birth name was James Francis Edward Stuart, although in later days he came to be known as Prince James, the Prince of Wales, the Old Pretender, or the Old Chevalier.

Prince James was born to the reigning monarch of England and Scotland, James II of England (also called James VII of Scotland). Automatically, this made Prince James the heir to the thrones of England and Scotland, along with becoming Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay through his mother. He was raised in France under the protection of King Louis XIV of France, who recognised him as the rightful heir.

While Prince James was in France, and even before he was born, a political movement began which sought to place Princes Mary and William of Orange on the throne. When James II died in 1701, Prince James declared himself the King, he had the support of France, Spain, the Papel State and Modena, who also refused to acknowledge any validity to the claim of Princes Mary. As a result, the British government declared that the actions of Prince James were treasonous and any claim that held to the throne would be stripped from him.
Prince James attempted multiple times to take the throne of Britain by force, but each time was met with failure. The last of these was the 1715 Jacobite Uprising. At a later stage his son Prince Charles attempted to usurp the British crown and place his father on the throne, which was also met with failure.

Effectively, Prince James lived the rest of his life in Rome, where he was granted a pension and enjoyed relative comfort. He died on the 1st of January 1766.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish was the last battle fought on England that involved Prince Charles.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish took place as the Jacobite army was retreating from England. This was due to their progressively worsening situation, such as the army size being reduced to 5,000 due to desertions, no Jacobite support in England, a readying French army, the strong defensive situation of London, two approaching armies and false reports of a third.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish took place on the 18th of December, 1745, near Clifton in Cumbria, England. The Royal forces were commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, while the Jacobites were led by Lord George Murray. Technically Prince Charles was also in command of the Jacobite forces but for all intensive battle purposes he had no real impact on the battlefield.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish was fought shortly after sunset, on a cloudy night, with only short intervals of light from the moon. Through the brilliant strategising of Lord George Murray, this was not an issue for the Jacobite forces. It came to be that the Jacobite forces were able to see the Royal army, but the reverse did not apply as the Hanoverians were positioned next to bushes which inhibited their vision.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish was a relatively short one, at the given command, the Royal forces were rushed by the Jacobites. The Scottish force sustained twelve deaths and an unrecorded number of injuries, while the Royal forces sustained a total of 100 deaths and injuries.

The Highland charge was a tactic used in conflict on the battlefield by Scottish Highland clan men.

As a basic description, the Highland charge consists of the attacking highland force making a charge towards the musket line of their opposition. This is preceded by a number of rapidly fired charges of muskets.

The Highland charge was created out of the necessities of the changing environment of warfare, namely the increased use and effectiveness of muskets. Previous to the advent of the Highland charge, the typical Scottish formation consisted of a very tight packing of men in a charge, which would be preceded by a number of heavily armed and armored units, these would most often be equipped with long Scottish claymores. This formation proved to be too good a target for musket fire to be viable.

The key to the Highland charge was the use of a sword shorter than the claymore, with a hilt that offered hand protection. Targes were also worn for body protection and a dirk as a shorter knife in the other hand. The other reason for the effectiveness of the Highland charge was the sheer terror that it could strike into its target, especially in newly trained troops. When the Highland charge would strike, it could break up the musket formation, highly reducing the effectiveness of its battle capability.

The Siege of Carlisle was a conflict in the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 where the Carlisle Castle was captured.

The Siege of Carlisle was the third significant conflict of the Jacobite Uprising of 1745. In actual fact there were two sieges of Carlisle castle, but this article only deals with the first of these.

The Siege of Carlisle took place on the 13th of November 1745, and lasted until the 15th of the same month. The Jacobite force was led by their leader, Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie, while the Royal forces were led by Colonel Durand.

Siege of Carlisle saw the forces of the Jacobites split in two, one half to siege Carlisle and the other to stay at Brampton. The siege began at noon on the 13th of November. The Jacobite forces surrounded the castle took charge of surrounding villages, so as to stop all communication with Carlisle Castle. The troops were greeted with musket fire later in the day, although this had little effect as by then it was dark and aiming became impossible.

The Siege of Carlisle soon ended, in a rather bloodless manner, when the inhabitants decided to surrender to the Jacobite troops. Very little defence force was raised due to illness and general refusal to fight, this was spurned by the disarray and un-preparedness of the troops for siege.