High Seas Fleet Surrender 06 – Submarine Mining at Port Laing

From before the time of Oliver Cromwell, North Queensferry and Inchgarvie had been protected from sea-borne attacks by gun batteries.

In 1880 the Government decided to deploy defensive minefields in “commercially important estuaries” – the Humber, Clyde, Tay and the Forth.

In 1887 A Submarine Mining Volunteer Division was raised in Edinburgh. They initially set up practice camps on Inchkeith then moved to a permanent location at Port Laing in 1898.

An annual training camp at North Queensferry

An annual training camp at North Queensferry

Permanent buildings were built at Port Laing in 1891

They could deploy an electrically controlled minefield across the Forth in 48 hours.

Mine field with protective batteries and searchlights

Their commander was Captain Henry M. Cadell a Scottish geologist and geographer, noted for his work on the Moine Thrust, the oil-shale fields of West Lothian, and the results of his experiments in mountain building published in 1888.

Captain Henry M. Cadell at camp in North Queensferry

You can read a fuller account about the Port Laing Submarine Mining Station HERE