The night of 20^th January 1942 was very stormy, with gale force southerly winds and driving sleet and snow. The MacBrayne passenger vessel Lochgarry ex Lairdsrock ex Vulture on wartime service was outward bound from Glasgow to Oban, to pick up a party of soldiers for the Faroes, when she strayed off course across the north channel and hit the rocks off Torr Point. The captain immediately put his ship astern and came off the rocks, but his vessel was seriously damaged and because of the amount of water entering through the bow he could only reverse the ship.

Owing to the heavy seas and the amount of water pouring through the hold in the bow, it was decided to abandon ship. The anchor was dropped and the Lochgarry by this time was half a mile off the east side of the Rathlin and sinking fast. The lifeboats were lowered, and the crew rowed from the shore, which they could see looming in the darkness. They set off distress flares when their ship had dropped anchor. Two of the lifeboats from the Lochgarry made it safely to the shore, but the third with 29 men on board was swept to the north and it struck the only offshore rock on Rathlin’s east side. The impact with the rock capsized the boat, drowning most of the occupants. Those who managed to swim ashore died on the beach from hypothermia and the injuries from the severe battering they received trying to swim ashore. Meanwhile Rathlin coastguards, who had spotted one of the distress flares, were organizing search parties along the shore, and it wasn’t until the morning of the 21^st that all the survivors were accounted for. Most had tried to get what shelter they could behind ditches and gorse bushes.

The grim task of recovering the dead then began, the remains being taken to the Life Saving Apparatus building, owing to the bad weather it was 3 days before the 32 survivors could be taken to Ballycastle. Older residents recall that it was a very sad sight as 26 coffins were carried to the harbour. It was the greatest loss of life from a shipwreck. Three bodies were never recovered.

The Lochgarry is a favourite spot for sub-aqua divers, as she rests upright on the seabed, with the damage suffered to her bow on that fateful night clearly visible.