Ship of the People

En route to America, a landing in Ireland was made, where several victims attempted to escape, alerting local authorities and attracting the attention of the British government.

MacLeod and MacDonald successfully denied involvement in the incident and escaped prosecution, while the victims of the scheme were set free and mainly settled in Ireland for the remainder of the lives.

The last chief of Clan MacLeod to live full time at Dunvegan Castle in the Isle of Skye, their traditional centre of power, was John 'the Speckled' (Iain Breac), who died in 1693.

English soldier Edmund Burt, who was stationed in the Highlands during this time, wrote, "it has been whispered their Crimes were only asking their Dues, and such-like Offences; and I have been well assured, they have been threatened with hanging, or at least perpetual Imprisonment, to intimidate and force them to sign a Contract for their Banishment."

At some point before 1739, Norman, alongside chief Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, planned to kidnap a large number of their own tenants under the pretense of them being criminals.

Had the ship arrived at her intended destination, the newly indentured servants would have faced conditions little better than the slavery endured by African-Americans at the time.

He appealed to Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session and the senior-most judicial authority in Scotland at the time for aid, insisting on his innocence and emphasising the difficult nature of prosecuting him.