dara_mcgrath_positivemagazine_14

Stornoway Isle Of Lewis 2013Located half a mile off-shore on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebridies Operation Cauldron was a series of biological weapons tests (UK Biological Weapons Program 57) involving the spraying of pneumonic plague bacilli on a series of floating pontoons in September 1952During the trials 3,492 guinea pigs and 83 monkeys were used in this manner. Humans as well as other animals ended up being exposed in these trials. On the last day of the operation, a fishing vessel, the Carella, strayed into the path of a trial using the plague. The trawler was tailed by two naval vessels for 21 days, waiting for any distress call causing concern about a possible plague outbreak around its homeport in northwest England.When none came, almost all records of the incident were burnt.The crew of the Carella were unaware of the incident until approached by a BBC documentary crew more than fifty years later.