After the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, the Western Highlands of Scotland received attention from the British Royal Navy.

[1] Captain John Fergussone of the Royal Navy had sailed north in the bomb vessel HMS Furnace through the Sea of the Hebrides and The Minch, and had come under fire from the Jacobites in what is now known as the Skirmish of Loch Ailort on 9 May 1746.

[1] As the boats approached MacDonald of Borrodale's men opened fire on them and also exploded three French gunpowder mines when the sailors reached the shore.

[2] On 30 May they anchored off the Isle of Eigg where Captain John MacLeod and forty men of the Jacobite Clan Ranald Regiment were lured by false promises to surrender only for thirty-eight of them to be confined on ship, some of whom died on voyage to the River Thames and the rest destined to become slaves in the West Indies.

[2] Fergussone then posted detachments around Loch Morar and on the night of the 4/5 June 1746 one of his parties captured the Jacobite Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, a major prize.