HMS Argyll and the Bell Rock Lighthouse

In October 1915, the HMS Argyll was nearing the end of a refit at Plymouth dockyard and was expected to re-join her squadron at Rosyth without delay. But as the North Sea was infested with enemy submarines at the time, she was ordered to take the longer route around the British Isles.

As the Bell Rock was the last natural hazard Captain Tancred had to contend with before reaching the safety of his base, he sent a signal to Rosyth requesting the lighthouse to be lit. However, as a particularly heavy squall suddenly lifted like a curtain, a look-out called: “Sailing ship ahead” – mistaking the huge granite pillar of the Bell Rock lighthouse for a large spread of sail.

The Captain, asked a bridge officer, “What is she doing?”

“It isn’t a sailing ship, sir,” was the reply, “it’s the Bell Rock lighthouse!”

Argyll gave two great lurches and wedged her 450 foot keel firmly among the rocks, just two lengths short of the lighthouse. It was just after 04.30am. Later, HMS Hornet and Jackall appeared and made every effort to get close to the stricken Argyll. After several attempts, Hornet managed to get her stern close to Argyll’s, where 500 of her crew had been assembled for abandoning ship. The rest of the crew took to the lifeboats and rowed clear of their ship.

On mountainous waves, the stern of Hornet rose and fell like an express lift against Argyll. At times the two ships clashed violently, buckling Hornet’s stern plates. There was a real danger of men being crushed between them, but each time the sterns passed, men made the jump to Hornet’s deck until there were none left aboard Argyll.

HMS Jackall’s lifeboats succeeded in picking up the remaining survivors. By 12.30, the entire crew of Argyll was safely at Rosyth. By a miracle, every crewman was saved without injury, apart from one sprained ankle.

Artist’s Response

This project asked for an artwork that explored a moment in the past, local to our surrounding area, something that should reflect the memory from place and people.

Bringing moments back into present sights works well within my current practice of using materials and artefacts of heritage and forming new insights and varying perspectives to a moment that we often misplace in our memories, important moments within our history.

Using my practice this piece contains several gathered artefacts, interpreting and creating a layered visual definition of this story. Including photographs of HMS Argyll, conjoined with subtle reminders through imagery of a postage stamp and a film slide of Bell Rock Lighthouse where we last saw and sadly lost the largest Royal Navy battlecruiser in 1915.

Emma Laing
Gray’s School of Art
Robert Gordon’s University

Emma is a printmaker from Aberdeen, where her practice sits within an archive, developed from nostalgic photographs and documentation, in an attempt to describe our lives from a perception of the stories and lives we remembered through materialistic artefacts. A research and visual development of how we preserve and perceive our identities in imagery and stories reflected from this and how we remain connected to people, place
and things.

Emma’s materials are gathered from personal and secondary sources to re-create ‘personal’ works through printmaking and collage that belong to this brand new archive, creative constructions of old to new, ephemeral assemblages.