Family’s joy after Wild Swan ship model, left unfinished after Tain joiner’s death, is finally completed
An unfinished model of a World War II Royal Navy destroyer left behind by a Tain joiner after his death has now been completed after his family’s appeal for help was answered.
John McRae began work on the model of HMS Wild Swan before the coronavirus pandemic but was sadly unable to complete it as he became increasingly unwell - he died of kidney failure in August 2023.
HMS Wild Swan was of great significance for Mr McRae, his siblings Mairi and William and their wider family because their father was one of the sailors on board when the ship sank after being attacked byGerman planes south of Ireland on June 17, 1942.
Murdo McRae and the rest of the crew survived the sinking, although 31 crew members later died from exposure.
A joiner from Balintore, Murdo McRae was aged just 19 when he signed up to serve his country in 1939.
William McRae said: “He lied when he signed up. He told them he was a salmon fisherman in the hope that they would put him in the Royal Navy!”
Mr McRae’s wish came true and soon he was serving on HMS Wild Swan, a 1140 tons, 312 foot long ‘W’ Class destroyer built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend on Tyne and launched and completed in 1918.
The ship had a long and distinguished service. She was present at the fall of Holland in 1940, made many trips to evacuate troops from Dunkirk and was constantly in action hunting submarines and on convoy duty in the North Atlantic.
She came to a dramatic and heroic end in June 1942 while passing through a group of Spanish trawlers 100 miles south of Bantry Bay.
A squadron of 12 German Junkers Ju88 bombers mistook the ships for a convoy and attacked. Wild Swan responded vigorously, claiming six German aircraft shot down. But the ship lost steering control and collided with one of the Spanish trawlers, which sank immediately. Eleven survivors from the trawler were taken on board Wild Swan, but it too sank.
Mr McRae and the other survivors - some 10 officers and 123 ratings - were spotted in small boats and dinghies the next day by an RAF Short Sunderland flying boat and were then picked up by another destroyer and taken to Milford Haven.
After the sinking, Mr McRae volunteered for special operations, and became the coxswain of a tank landing craft. He saw action at Dieppe, Sicily and Salerno, where he also survived a second sinking, and Anzio.
He returned home and married Muriel Howe in September 1945. The couple had three children - Mairi, John and William - and the family has since grown to include two grandchildren Iain and Caroline, and great grandchildren Harry and Danny.
However Mr McRae’s health was affected by his wartime experiences and he died in 1954, aged just 34. His family believe his health problems were caused by ingesting diesel oil after being shipwrecked twice.
Both Mr McRae’s sons, John and William, were interested in history and, fascinated by their father’s war time experiences, researched the story of the Wild Swan.
John, who was very creative and had previously made models of lead soldiers, decided that he would like to make a model of the ship.
“He was very good at painting and making models,” said his brother. “He stopped for a while after a shell ejected from a gun and hit him in the eye while he was target shooting. But then he started again and decided to try his hand at the Wild Swan.
“He got the plans for the ship from the Ministry of Defence - I remember he rang me and said he was having trouble paying with his credit card, so I told him he could use mine. It cost me £120 which I don’t think I ever got back!
“He took the design down to a certain size and started by making the hull out of wood and putting weights in it. Then he started on the superstructure. He probably worked on the model for some two to three years and wanted to finish it himself but sadly it was not to be and he died before he could finish it.”
The family did not know what to do with the unfinished model, but then a chance meeting with Major General Patrick Marriott, Lord-Lieutenant of Sutherland, provided an answer.
Mr McRae’s wife, Heather, was playing the accordion in the Port Ceilidh Band at the Bradbury Centre,Bonar Bridge, last Christmas when she struck up a conversation with Major General Marriott, who was a guest at the event.
“I started telling him the story of John and he was horrified at the thought the model might not be completed. He said that we can’t leave it like that,” said Mrs McRae.
Major General Marriott himself has a link with the Wild Swan - his father worked with the ship’s captain after the ship sank. He posted an appeal on the Lieutenancy Facebook page, asking if there was anyone who could finish the model.
The plea for help was answered by Ian Duxbury, a former Royal Navy bomb disposal diver who lives iin Alness and has known the McRae family since his days as a foreman at the Highland Fabrication yard at Nigg. Mr Duxbury’s daughter Suzanne runs the Eagle Hotel in Dornoch with her husband Eric de Venny.
He has experience of model making, having previously built models of the Titanic and the Cutty Sark. He started work on the model in January and completed it by the end of February. He unveiled it to the McRae family in the Eagle Hotel two months ago.
William McRae said: “We are really impressed with it - it is amazing. It was quite emotional as John passionately wanted to see the model finished.”
The model is now on display in William and Heather McRae’s living room. Mr McRae said it may eventually go into the hands of his nephew, Iain Forbes, or possibly be offered to Invergordon Museum.
