I've been sitting on pics of the markers for the Skelmorlie Measured Mile, and the story behind it, for months now, and it was nice to see that someone else came up with the subject too. If nothing else, it made me get my finger out and get the pics and history started.

More interesting still was the additional info that came with it for the Arran Mile, or miles to be technically accurate.

A bit of post-prompt digging suggests the Skelmorlie mile is not the favoured reference, but that the Arran course is still being maintained.

I'm not a sailor, so don't have much hope of finding them, but it would be interesting if anyone knows how/if these are depicted on modern maritime charts.

I've been trying to work out where I've seen these areas detailed, and I'm pretty sure they are shown in detailed charts on display on the walls of the Denny Ship Model Experiment Tank museum in Dumbarton. This is an excellent little museum, full of detail for anyone prepared to put in a little effort an look closely. It looks small and sparse, but is deceiving. And there's an interesting an unexpected display to be found including a cat (no, not a live one)- I leave you to find that for yourself, and only say 'Look up', or ask the staff

http://www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org/dumbart.htm

As I recall, the old charts are extremely detailed, and set out the Trial Areas in detail. Wish it wasn't so long since I'd seen them now, all I can remember is the marking out of the relevant areas.

Interestingly, the current documentary triggered by the last visit of the QE2 to her place of birth on the Clyde featured a reference to her trials, where those that were present told of the full power run, and the vibration causing the tiles to fall off one of the swimming pools, as the pool windows came loose and fell in too.

I was lucky enough to be on ship being tested off Greenock. A 400 car ferry from up north, so not a little tiddler. After enjoying the sail along the Clyde from Glasgow on a lovely sunny day, I was installed in he engine room to monitor the control systems, so didn't get to see what was happening up top. It was hard to tell what was happening, even though understood the test we were running involved steaming in a circle at full power with the rudder hard over. The ship was fitted with stabilisers, and the lean was negligible, as was the vibration. In the soundproofed engine control room, it was rather uncanny, as the instrumentation confirmed we were hard at work - you wouldn't have known.

All good things come to an end though, and we limped back to Greenock to disembark. Although the engine hadn't actually been the subject of the test, the engineer revealed that at least one of the cylinder heads had blown during the run. No real drama, although I had noticed the fuel venting until they isolate the feed.

My sailing chart shows the Skelmorlie set as 2 sets of beacons shown as a circle with a dot in the centre.  The Arran mile markers are shown as having lights. The outer markers have 2 beacons with lights and the centre one has 3.

Mind you this chart is about 30 years old and is/was much less detailed than the likes of the Admiralty charts.

I'm trying to pin down the exact lat/lon of the Skelmorlie markers from the pics - are your chart any good for fixes to that degree of accuracy, better than 10 m or 8 digit grid ref is needed ie AB12341234. The Skelmorlie markers, as you noted, don't appear at all on new maps.

I have the Arran markers down to a few feet, but oddly, although the southern markers are identified at South Sannox, none of their positions are marked, just their name.

Of the northern and centre markers, these are shown as the pair of Mile Markers, and of a further fixed marker, making a total of three beacons on the two sites.

The old Admiralty charts shown in the Dumbarton museum are works of art now, the detail is superb, the old 'Sharp Pencil' being in evidence and they are packed with information - a bit like looking at a modern aviation map. Get your hands on one of those and you'll be wondering why all aircraft aren't flying into one another, as the pilots try and make sense of the information overload that these have become. Preparing a Flight Plan is no longer a good idea nowadays, it's a downright necessity if you have any thought of looking outside the cockpit

Sailing charts do not carry a great amount of detail and are quite small scale overall.  They have enlarged drawings of important or dangerous areas scattered about them and unfortunately themarkers do not fall into these areas.

Try the dreaded Flashearth ( on Firefox of course )

Skelmorlie North seaward marker   55* 51' 1.7"N  4*53'13.2"E
I cannot be sure about the landward marker,

Skelmorlie South seaward marker  55* 51' 1.6"N  4* 53' 13.2"E

Aerial of Arran is to poor to show anything.

I wasn't sure of the seaward marker, I must have stood at it, and never noticed it!

Landward north is easy, just find the bus stop and the house and the little short street.

South's out of the way, but straightforward.

Arran's very odd, I can't understand why the upper six beacons should be marked to the foot, while the map only has the words Navigation Beacons for south Sannox, but nothing marked for their detail. I have a few pics tracked down, not of the markers themselves, but nearby features that they can sort of be seen in, but are so vague as to make their position little more than imagination.

Something wiil no doubt turn up.

As an aside, I suspect, from my experience with GPS, that Lloyds and others (military) do not currently accept GPS measured miles or trials as legally relevant to contracts, and that Arran is maintained as the 'Thing That Can Be Cited Legally' when such things are required. While the warring military have access to a highly accurate version of 'Real' GPS, we public just have access to the rough signals, albeit we are free to play with it and enhance the accuracy if we wish. Military is reputed to be cm accurate, while we do well to be metre accurate.

I can confirm that the Skelmorlie North Markers are still there as described, red posts and white Vs.  I was able to see them through the telescope today. I have been unable to see the south markers so far.

The Navigation Contract link is broken.