Round Britain yachtsman visits our Harbourmaster

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Cromarty Harbour today marked the opening of its newly refurbished Inner Admiralty berth by welcoming Mark Ashley-Miller and his yacht “Good Dog” in their charity trip round the UK.  Mark is circumnavigating Great Britain and is aiming to meet all the harbourmasters there are to meet.  Apparently, there are over 300 such individuals and today it was the turn of Ronald Young, Harbourmaster at Cromarty. Mark’s charity is Seafarers UK who have been championing seafarers since 1917.

In hosting Mark, Ronald (pictured on right on the picture opposite with Colin Dickie, Chair of Cromarty Harbour with Mark in the middle), was able to share with him all the considerable work that has been going on in the harbour and the fact that Mark’s timing was perfect in that the final mooring bollards were only laid down the day before.  Completion of the refurbishment has been three years in the making and relied on the support of a number of funding agencies and of course, volunteer support.  This phase of the harbour renovation could not have happened without the support of Historic Environment Scotland, Fisheries Local Action Group, SSE Communities Fund, Viridor, the Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise the Friends of Cromarty Harbour and the Cromarty Trust to name just eight.  Fundraising is now underway to move on to the next phase of work which is to repair stonework on the West Pier. 

During his brief stay with us, Mark highlighted the great work done by Seafarers UK in- supporting seafarers throughout their seafaring career: from first considering a career at sea, to working at sea, managing relationships at home while adapting to a seagoing life, then coming ashore and during retirement.

From Cromarty, Mark was heading down the Cromarty Firth to Invergordon and from there to Inverness and out to the East.  He had hoped to return to Dartmouth sometime next year but he is clearly getting waylaid by Scottish hospitality and that now looks extremely ambitious.