Dear Nick;
You point out something important to any historian in our
association, which is the accuracy and sources of
information. Pertaining to the Darian expedition, I have
been acting on the information from my Historian in
Scotland. Where the intended destination and the stops along
the way were are not known to myself. Persons researching
this aspect of migrations from Argyll should review the
history in detail. Hence the Darian expedition may have been
intended for Panama, or ended up in that location. I will
investigate further.
Yes I understand that there is a canal. However, the Port
of Crinan still exists to this day, and may be found on the
west coast of Argyll. The Add Ruel flows into it. Why
Crinan was one of the points of departure I can not say with
certainty, but my information is that it was nicknames the
"Port of Tears", due to the significant number and nature of
the voyages. I should point out that Greenock was also a
significant port for Glascow, and is located to the west of
the Port of Glascow. Dunoon is located directly across the
bay. Campelton (one "l") on the east coast of the Kintyre
Penninsula, was a further port of departure for migration
from Argyll as well. There may well be others ports as well,
but these are the ones we know of. I have also had it
pointed out to me that there was a significant depletion of
the population of Argyll from the end of the 1600's all
through the 1700's due to the numerous migrations from the
region.
Hope this helps.
I continue to be curious as to the wanderings of the clan
Sinclair during the 1600's and into the 1700's. I suspect
that they were from Caithness and the Orkneys all over
Scotland initially and then migrated abroad. Perhaps some
family historian may want to focus on this.
Kindest regards;
Neil Sinclair currently of Toronto Canada
descendant
of the Sinclairs of Argyll and PEI.
Nicholas Latheron wrote:
> Wasn't the Darien/Darian expedition to Panama? with the
> resultant loss of a
> significant proportion of the participants to illness.
>
> (The Battlefield Band do a good tune based on this event).
>
> Regards Nick
>
> P.S. shouldn't that be the Crinan Canal, linking the two
> sides of the Mull
> of Kintyre and thus cutting out quite a long sea voyage
> around this
> peninsula.