Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward, the sailors cry
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to Skye
Loud the winds howl,loud the waves roar,
Thunder clouds rend the air,
Baffled our foe's stand on the shore
Follow they will not dare
Though the waves leap,soft shall ye sleep
Ocean's a royal bed
Rocked in the deep,Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head
The island of Skye ( An t-Eilean Sgitheanach) is the largest of the Inner Hebrides. Long peninsulas stretch out between more than a dozen sea lochs resulting in that nowhere on Skye are you more than 5 miles from the sea.
The Duirinish peninsula provides some of the most spectaculer and breathtraking coastal walking in Britain
with high cliffs, sea stacks, natural arches, caves and waterfalls.
The 'Skye Boat Song' tells the story of Charles Edward Stuart who's army was defeated at Culloden in 1746.
Flora MacDonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape by transporting him in a boat from North Uist over the
sea to Skye before leaving for the Scottish mainland and refuge in France. The most famous lady in Skye's history Flora Macdonald has a monument to her in Kilmuir.
The first half of the tune is said to be an old sea shanty.
