Mystery of the Magellan Whalers
By Joanne B Kaar
Senecio smithii - a ragwort that is more commonly known as the Magellan Daisy. It grows in the garden of a now ruined croft house at Hunspow. The croft is between the villages of Dunnet and Brough on the road to Dunnet Head Lighthouse, the most northerly point on the UK mainland. The stunning white flower, a native of South America, is said to have been introduced to Caithness by whalers. It's still a mystery as there is no evidence confirming how or when the flower arrived in Caithness.
James Bruce is the last recorded occupant in the mid 1900s of the croft at Hunspow, where the Magellan Daisy still grows in what would have been the garden. His wife Helen, is supposed to have been given the flower by her uncle, a Mr Banks. In Dunnet Village near the burn, an archaeology dig revealed the whale bone crucks of a barn once owned by Harry Brotchie. The whale bones are now on display in the Seadrift Centre at Dunnet Beach. Were any of these men whalers who sailed to South America?
There are a few theories as to how and why the daisy was introduced to Caithness from South America. Did whalers bring it back for their sweethearts? Did the seeds stick to the whalers clothing? Did they bring it back to prove that they had been south? The Magellan Daisy could have been introduced to Caithness by 'normal horticultural means' including a whaler collecting the plant or seeds.
The Magellan Daisy has a short flowering season of only a few weeks, starting around the end of June. It grows in abundance on the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and a few locations in Caithness where the climate, soils and landscape are similar to that of its native Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego. The flower is known in Shetland as the Patagonia Daisy, South Georgia Daisy and New Zealand Daisy.
The Magellan Daisy in bloom, CaithnessImage provided by Joanne B Kaar
Credit Info: Caithness artist Joanne B Kaar researched "The Mystery of the Magellan Daisy and Whalers", gathering fragments of information locally and around the globe from botanists, whaling museums and archives over a number of years as part of a self-directed project. However, the mystery remains unsolved.