TWO artillery companies, called the Easdale Volunteers, guarded Seil’s western shores for 50 years against the threat of French invasion, wrote Lt Col Tim Sinclair, a former gunner, of Clachan Seil.
In 1859, Britain feared it faced naval attack from France’s Emperor Napoleon III and within two years 161,000 had signed up for a volunteer corps, including 12 artillery companies in Argyll and two on Easdale: 1st Corps the Argyll Artillery Volunteers, which formed on March 7, 1860.
Under the command of Captain Angus Whyte, the slate quarry manager, the two companies drilled their artillery skills on four huge 32-pounder guns, firing cannon balls from Easdale’s shores 1,200m out into the Atlantic.