Anecdote about the first steam vessel seen in Yell and how p...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1973.60.A3
Original Tape ID
Summary
Anecdote about the first steam vessel seen in Yell and how people reacted.
The first steam vessel ever seen in Yell startled Andrew Irvine's grandfather, who was a youth at the time, and some older men, as they gathered limpets for bait in the ebb [shore exposed by the tide]. It was a beautiful summer evening and one man looked up and saw this vessel with a great cloud of black smoke pouring from it. He sat down and asked the others what on earth it was. One religious man speculated whether it was supernatural and asked for God's protection. Another, less religiously inclined, invited the boy to take snuff, "for we'll snuff no more, till we snuff in annider world".
Recording Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Unst
Island - Unst
Village/Place - Westing
Item Location
County - Shetland
Parish - Yell
Island - Yell
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good