Gulf of Corryvreckan
The
Gulf of Corryvreckan (from the
Gaelic Coirebhreacain meaning "cauldron of the speckled seas" or "cauldron of the plaid"), also called the
Strait of Corryvreckan, is a narrow
strait between the islands of
Jura and
Scarba, in
Argyll and Bute, off the west coast of
Scotland.
Strong
Atlantic currents and unusual underwater
topography conspire to produce a particularly intense
tidal race in the channel. As the flood
tide enters the narrow area between the two islands it speeds up to 8.5
knots (≈16 km/h), and also meets a variety of seabed features including a deep hole and a rising pinnacle. These features combine to create
whirlpools,
standing waves and a variety of other surface effects.
The Corryvreckan is the third largest whirlpool in the world, and is on the northern side of the gulf, surrounding a pyramid-shaped
basalt pinnacle that rises from depths of 70 m to 29 m at its rounded top. Flood tides and inflow from the
Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of over 30 feet (9 m), and the roar of the resulting
maelstrom can be heard ten miles (16 km) away.
The area is currently being considered for
Special Area of Conservation status.
Minke whales and
porpoises swim in the fast-moving waters and only the most resilient plants and
corals thrive on the
seabed.
Scottish mythology has it that the
hag goddess
Cailleach Beara uses the gulf to wash her
plaid; the whirlpool was her washtub. By winter the cloth was white, and became the white blanket of snow that falls over Scotland in January. Another legend surrounds Norse king Breachan (or Brecan). In various stories, Breachan moored his boat near the whirlpool to impress a local princess, or fled his father across the gulf. In both stories Breachan was swept into the whirlpool, and his body dragged ashore later by his dog. Breachan may be named after the whirlpool, or its current name may be a Gaelic
pun on his name. Writing in the
7th century Adamnan called it "
Charybdis Brecani".
Formerly classified by the
Admiralty as unnavigable (the Admiralty's
West Coast of Scotland Pilot guide to inshore waters still calls it "very violent and dangerous" and says "no vessel should then attempt this passage without local knowledge"), its treacherous waters are nevertheless still sailed and swum by a few hardy adventurers. Writer
George Orwell and his son (who lived at Barnhill in northern Jura) were briefly shipwrecked on the
skerry of Eilean Mor (south of the whirlpool) when boating the gulf [
1], and Orwell's one-legged brother-in-law Bill Dunn was the first person to swim the gulf.
Part of
Powell's and Pressburger's 1945 film
I Know Where I'm Going! was set at Corryvreckan, but the waters there were too dangerous for filming, and the nearby (but less fierce) waters at Bealach a' Choin Ghlais were used instead.
*
Smithsonian article on Corryvreckan*
Myths surrounding Corryvreckan and Cailleach*
Swimmers in the Corryvreckan
