Press-gang anecdotes; a fishing crew missing for six months...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1976.089
Original Tape ID
Summary
Press-gang anecdotes; a fishing crew missing for six months after a tragic storm.
Anecdotes about the press gang and where men hid from them.
A fishing boat from Brough was the only one of six from Whalsay to survive a July storm. The crew were rescued by a Danish ship and ended up in Philadelphia before they got home on 4 January, the day before Old Christmas, when they were welcomed at the pier by a dog belonging to one of the men. Sadly, one man was lost going aboard the rescue ship. Some of the Danish crew wanted to take over the ship and sell the Whalsay men as slaves, but one Whalsay man, Anderson, killed a mutineer and slung him by the ankles into the rest. The story is told in a book.
Item Notes
Old Yule was the date of Christmas in the Julian calendar, which continued to be used for traditional festivals long after it was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in the middle of the 18th century.
Item Location
County - Shetland
Non Scottish Item Location
United States of America, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Non Scottish Item Location
Na Stàitean Aonaichte, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Language
English, Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good