Torran Rocks
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| Scottish Gaelic name | Na Torrain |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | "loud murmering or thunder"[1] |
| Location | |
  Torran Rocks Torran Rocks within Argyll and Bute | |
| OS grid reference | NM266137 |
| Coordinates | 56°14′13″N 6°24′47″W / 56.237°N 6.413°W |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Mull |
| Highest elevation | c. 10 m (33 ft)[2] |
| Administration | |
| Council area | Argyll and Bute |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
 | |
The Torran Rocks are a group of small islands and skerries located between the islands of Mull and Colonsay in Scotland.
The main rocks are Dearg Sgeir, MacPhail's Anvil, Na Torrain, Torran Sgoilte and Torr an t-Saothaid although there are numerous others including the southernmost of Sgeir Dhoirbh (or Otter Rock).[3][4] They cover an area of about 25 km2 (10 sq mi) some 3 km (2 mi) south of the tidal island of Erraid and the Ross of Mull. The largest islets of Na Torrain reach 10 metres (33 ft) or more above sea level and are up to 150 m (490 ft) long. West Reef is made up of half a dozen skerries of orthogneiss about 2 km (1+1⁄4 mi) west of Na Torrain.[2] The southern group of rocks and Ruadh Sgeir are formed from potassium-feldspar-phyric monzogranite intruded as part of the Caledonian Igneous Supersuite towards the end of the Caledonian orogeny (late Silurian to early Devonian period) and form an outlying part of the Ross of Mull pluton. Dearg Sgeir and Torr an t-Saothaid are monzogranite to granodiorite and hybridised with diorite enclaves. Na Torrain and McPhail's Anvil are formed from equigranular biotite monzogranite.[5]
Navigation hazard
Between 1867 and 1872 a lighthouse was built on the isolated reef of Dubh Artach, some 16 km (10 mi) southwest, in response to the hazards these rocks jointly presented to shipping. Between 1800 and 1854 thirty ships were wrecked on the Torrans with the loss of over fifty lives.[6] An astonishing 24 vessels were lost in the area in a storm on 30–31 December 1865.[7][8] The writer Hamish Haswell-Smith describes the rocks as "being scattered over a wide area like dragon's teeth. They lurk menacingly just beneath the surface, occasionally showing themselves in a froth of white spittle".[1] Nicholson (1995) calls them "4+1⁄2 miles [7 km] of jumbled granite teeth" and that "the extent and confused nature of this reef claimed untold numbers of vessels plying between America or the Baltic ports and Oban".[9] The reefs are so hazardous that only small boats can hope to navigate them with any degree of safety.[10]
