The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

228 THE HIGHLANDERS [part ii
equally bad success. The third expedition consisted of Argyll
and Atholl, who were accompanied by the lord of the Isles, and
on this occasion Argyll found means to persuade several of the
families of the Isles to join their party. An interview then took
place between the contending parties, which did not produce
any result, and the two earls, who do not appear to have had
an}' great cordiality towards the object of their expedition,
returned. John, however, proceeded onwards through the
Sound of Mull, accompanied l»y the Macleans, Macleods,
Macneils, and others, and encountered Angus Og in a bay on
the south side of the promontory of Ardnamurchan. A naval
engagement immediately took place between the father and son
and their respective followers, which ended in the complete
overthrow of the unfortunate father, and the dispersion of his
fleet. By this victory, which will long be remembered in the
traditions of the country as the " Battle of the Bloody Bay,"
Angus became completely established in the possession of the
power and extensive territories of his clan. John appears not
long after this to have become reconciled to his son, who easily
regained the entire ascendancy over him which he had formerly
after the date
possessed ; and, accordingly, it was but five years
of his submission that we once more find him throwing off his
allegiance to the throne, and engaging in a treaty with Edward
IV., king of England, who was then preparing to invade Scot-
and from this period, during the remainder of the reign of
land ;
James III., the Isles appear to have continued in a state of
open resistance to the authority of the government. But the
accession of James IV. in 1494, made a material change in this
respect, for that energetic monarch, who in many points of view
bore a strong resemblance to his ancestor the first James, took
the most decided and severe measures for reducing the country
to a state of peace, while the recent death of Angus Og left
John in no condition to defend himself from the consequences
of the rebellion into which he had been led. In these measures
James was accordingly successful ; it was in the sixth year of
his reign that he turned his attention particularly to the state of
the Highlands and Isles ; and
during that year, he visited them
personally three times, besides having twice, in the preceding
year, penetrated into the Highlands as far as Dunstaffnage and