Even more important, however, was the personal connection between Skye and Ireland. From about 1875 many Skye men became labourers in Campbeltown and Carradale fishing boats for the summer season in Irish waters, and there can be little doubt that these annual sojourns gave them experience of such Irish tactics as rent strikes. Indeed, the Irish connection goes a long way to explaining why, in its early years, the agitation concentrated mainly on Skye.
