Two Shetland shipwrecks
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1975.166
Original Tape ID
Summary
Two Shetland shipwrecks.
A sailing barque from Jamaica went onto the Burga Stacks at Culswick. The captain and a black crewman tried to swim but were found dead on a remote beach at Westerwick. No one was saved; the only man who made it ashore alive was Christie Fraser from Walls, who washed ashore at Culswick, but he died later.
John Henry of Silwick used to tell of seeing a ship in peril when he was a boy. He summoned a nearby captain and they watched a man come ashore after he had loosed the anchor. No one was lost, although the boat went aground in a geo [inlet]. The crew claimed the boat had malfunctioned because of witchcraft, and the affair ended in a court case.
Item Location
County - Shetland
Island - Shetland Mainland
Parish - Sandsting
Village/Place - Culswick
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good