Back to the subject:

I don't know what " 'The author', H. McSkimming,.." copyrighted in 1985 but it certainly wasn't this song. Not unless we had an incredible amount of deja vu back in the sixties! So far as I remember it was collected / translated by Marjorie Kennedy Fraser, but I'll need to get back to the Library to confirm this.

I've also got a recording somewhere of a Hebridean folk tale about a ship (from Barra I think) being sunk in the Minch by cats (witches familiars) conjured up by the skippers mother. I'd be interested if anyone else has heard this tale and any more background on it.

Pete M