June 28 in Scottish History

On 28 June 1790, the Forth and Clyde Canal opened. The 35 mile course from Bowling to Grangemouth is the longest of the Lowland canals. It was formally abandoned in 1962. Its re-opening in 2001 was part of the Millenium Link scheme, allowing waterway travel from Edinburgh to Glasgow by linking to the Union canal via the remarkable Falkirk Wheel boat lift.

Today in 1746, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie set sail from Benbecula to Skye. After Culloden, the Prince had a high price on his head. He came to Benbecula, and Flora helped him escape to Skye by disguising him as her Irish maid, Betty Burke. The crossing was short but perilous, as the small boat weathered both storms and the bullets of redcoats from the shore. Yet they survived that, and the questioning of government men, thanks in no small part to the cool demeanour of Flora, and the Prince escaped to France, never to return.

She was arrested when her part in the escape became known, but the popular appeal of her courage and ingenuity meant she was well treated, and she was released after spending a few years in the Tower. She emigrated to America, but later returned to Kingsburgh on Skye, where she died in 1790.

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