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Captain Ivory's Cave

Strathy Bay, Sutherland.

Captain Ivory's Cave: a large, two-roomed cave in which the captain of a smuggling lugger lived for almost a year. [Canmore]

A just supra-tidal sea cave facing North-Northwest. The entrance width is 3.2 m.

The last Laird of Strathy (Captain John MacKay 1717-1783), who lived about [Durness?] the end of the eighteenth century, was considered a great man in his time. The Laird [of Strathy] was also noted for his hospitality. On one occasion, a strange gentleman arrived at Strathy House. He confided to the Laird that he was an outlaw fleeing from justice and he begged protection. The Laird generously welcomed the stranger and promised to help him. He was welcome to stay as long as he liked in Strathy, where there was little fear that the arm of the law would reach him. Captain Ivory (for that was the gentleman's name) remained at Strathy for a considerable time, but on one occasion as he was walking with the Laird in the grounds of Strathy House he observed a party of men approaching by the river side. The Captain at once suspected that the party was in pursuit of him. 'I am caught," he exclaimed, "there are my pursuers." "No," said the Laird, "you are not caught yet; we can easily find a place of concealment for you here." They hurried to the house and the Laird called for one of his faithful Highland servants named Sutherland Mackay, whom he sent of in haste with Captain Ivory to bide among the rocks along the shore. The pursuers observed them and made after them in great haste. Captain Ivory and his attendant were soon close upon the shore, where the Captain discovered a large cave into which he withdrew. He penetrated a considerable distance and found the sides of the cave were shelving rocks rising one above the other. He climbed up on these high shelves intending to lie flat upon one of them for concealment, when he discovered another recess the entrance to which was a round dark hole just large enough to allow a man's body to get through. He let himself down several feet into this recess or dungeon, where he made himself as comfortable as circumstances allowed. Meanwhile his attendant, Sutherland Mackay, had returned towards Strathy House, and soon met the search party. "Where is Captain Ivory?" said they. The man believing it hopeless for the Captain to escape, simply pointed to the shore and said, "You have him there in front of you." The Captain's pursuers then approached the cave but looked in vain for any trace of him. The tide was now rising fast, and as the mouth of the cave was well within the tidal limit they concluded that Captain Ivory must have been drowned by the rising tide. The result was that his' pursuers left Strathy and never returned. Next morning the Laird of Strathy, accompanied by the faithful Sutherland Mackay, paid a visit to the cave into which Captain Ivory had retired. They resolved to find him dead or alive, but, alas, they could find no trace of him. Next evening, however, who should come to Strathy House but Captain Ivory. He received a hearty welcome from the Laird and his Lady, who were delighted to have him once more back with them. The Captain told them how he had been able to conceal himself in the cave, and they all resolved to pay a visit to the wonderful dungeon in the bowels of the earth. Owing to the pitchy darkness of the inner cave the Captain was at first unable properly to explore it but now after having had his wants fully supplied at Strathy House he returned to it, accompanied by the Laird and Lady Strathy as well as by the faithful Sutherland Mackay, who brought a burden of bedding and other comforts along with him. They made a more careful examination of the cave and prepared it for a lengthened stay on the part of the Captain. He was now provided with a footstool and cushion as it was impossible for a chair to be conveyed into the dungeon. He had resolved to remain in his hiding place for a considerable time, in case the search party should return to Strathy to arrest him. He was still attended by Sutherland Mackay, who brought him a daily supply of food and regularly provided whatever else he required. Captain Ivory's cave was one of the most solitary places that a human being could live in. He was half a mile away from any human being, and would always hear the roar of the sea, particularly at the time of high tides when the waters splashed about the outside of the cave. It may have been a year or two after the time when the Captain took up his abode in the cave that a vessel was observed one day to cast anchor in the Bay of Strathy, and a small boat approach the rocks from the vessel. Captain Ivory departed in this boat, and that was the end of his stay at Strathy.

On his [Sutherland MacKay's] death-bed, he confided to his son where the dungeon could be found, so the young man along with some companions went to explore the wonderful cave. They found it and soon gathered all the young lads and girls in the neighbourhood, who went to the cave in a procession headed with pipers, where they danced all night and held great festivities. They found the inner dungeon to be a chamber as large as an ordinary dining room with a well sanded floor, a square rock serving as a table on the middle of the floor, and on this table there were found writing materials, candles, wafers, and numerous other articles left by Captain Ivory. For many years after that it became quite a custom in the neighbourhood for the younger people to pay an occasional visit to Captain Ivory's retreat and hold festivities there, but now all this is a thing of the past and few have heard anything about the place for the last forty or fifty years, but in my own young days I have been with others at the cave. I believe the entrance to the inner cavern is now closed up by a fall of large stones, and it is impossible to penetrate to Captain Ivory's strange hiding place. [Catherine McLeod]

The inner room can be difficult to find as the outer room appears to end in a narrow cleft. At high level there is apparently a ledge at the back of which a slot drops into the second chamber. [Dick Grindlay, c. 2000]

The landscape features views, battle sites and oddities. [SWAD: Scottish Wetlands Archaeological Database]

Alternative Names: Captain Ivy's Cave

Notes: Access: from Strathy cemetery over the dunes to the east side of the beach. This is the second cave.

Measured 22 June 24 for length and entrance dimensions by Nigel Feilden who missed the extension reported in Dick Grindley's 2001 Bulletin article below. His plan gives a length of 53 m and agrees with the Namebook description mentioning '2 rooms'.

Altitude is Above Common Datum (ACD).

In 1691, a Captain Ivory was in charge of the Pembroke frigate which was infamous for its interference with legitimate shipping in the Clyde (seizing vessels which has already paid excise duties on false pretenses). Several complaints were made (by the authorities in Scotland via Lord Melville, Secretary of State for Scotland at Whitehall) seeking clarification on the instructions given to Captain Ivory by the Admiralty of England. Captain Ivory was summoned to London to give an account of his actions. [The Old Scots Navy]

There is the remote possibility Captain Ivory was Henry Avery, the notorious Pirate King, who vanished with the riches of a Mughal Treasure Ship ( the Gunsway or Ganj-i Sawa'i) at the end of the 17th century.

It seems unlikely that this could be the same Captain Ivory (the dates are out by about 50 to 100 years, the frigate captain and the pirate at the end of the 17th century the smuggler at the end of the 18th century).

Slightly more likely (but still too early) is another Captain Ivory, of the Edward of Wexford sailing reportedly for Bilbao but expected to head for Ireland with tobacco from Liverpool in December 1730. [Customs Letter Book]