FOULA HERITAGE

Foula - The Edge of the World

A TALE OF SHIPWRECK

From “Journal of an Expedition to Shetland in June, July and August 1834” by Edward Charlton.

One more tale of shipwreck, and I have done. In the month of April 1834 the Cerese from Belfast, bound for Leith, was driven by a storm out of her course and struck during the night upon the western side of Foulah, at the foot of the rock called the Noup. The darkness prevented the wretched crew from judging of their situation. The mate and a young man names Robert Black jumped from the vessel when she struck upon the rocks, but the latter alone made good his footing. The unfortunate mate was crushed to pieces between the ship's hull and the shore, and in a few minutes the rest of the crew were swallowed up in the waves. For some time the poor lad remained on the ledge of rock upon which he had alighted, but despair aroused him to exertion, and he at length reached the top of the cliff. How he accomplished this in the dark, a height of at least two hundred feet perpendicular, it is impossible to say, but no Foulah man would attempt it in daylight and in his sober senses. It was just at the first morning's dawn of a cold wintry day that he gained the summit of the cliff, and reader may imagine his feelings as he gazed upon this most inhospitable-looking land. He descended into the deep valley between the Noup and Liorafield of which I have before spoken, and there by good fortune fell in with a man who at that early hour was returning from his peat stack with a load of fuel. The superstitious Foulah man was terrified by the apparition of a human figure advancing towards him all clothed in white, for the shipwrecked boy had nothing on but his shirt and trousers. His superstition warned him to flee, but ere he could escape, he was accosted by the sprite imploring his assistance and asking in piteous tone if he were in a Christian land. ‘Tor' said my informant, 'he tought he might be mang cannibals.' 'Is it a Trow or a Christian man that speaks to me?' replied the cautious Shetlander. But ere he could well conclude his address, a hearty sailor-like grasp of the hand convinced him he was conversing with real flesh and blood. The poor lad was nursed with great care during his stay upon the island and left it full of gratitude to the hospitable natives.

WRECKS IN SHETLAND

From The Scotsman 01/01/1851

The bows of a small vessel came ashore last week on the west side of Fitful Head. She seemed to have been flat bottomed. A mast of 40 feet long also came ashore last week on the south part of Whiteness. A number of oak logs have been found along the coasts of Sandsting, Walls, and Papa, during the last eight days. It is therefore evident that some vessel has perished on the coast. There is a boat’s crew at present at Walls, belonging to the distant Island of Foula; and they say that, on the afternoon of the 7^th ult., they saw a very large vessel, bearing north-west, pass Foula, in a storm, under a fore jury-mast and square-sail, steering for Shetland. Next morning she was again seen, but drifting with the tide, and apparently unsteered. The probability is, therefore, that the crew had been swept overboard during the night, and that those large logs now coming on shore are part of her cargo. A considerable quantity of oak logs have been driven ashore at Papa Stour, on the west side; also a seaman’s chest, with a jacket, &c., have been found at Reawick; from which it is concluded that the vessel was a foreigner. – John o’Groat Journal

LOSS OF A FISHING-SMACK AND CREW OF SIX MEN

From The Scotsman 10/08/1865

The gale of Thursday and Friday fortnight, which overtook so many of the fishing-boats and smacks around Shetland, has not been without sad results. A little smack, named La Belle, which was prosecuting the home cod-fishing on the west coast of Shetland, was, with others, caught in the gale. Several smacks passed her as they were turning up for the land, when she was seen hove to off Foula. Since then she has not been heard of, and it is supposed that she has sprung a leak and foundered. Others think that she must have been driven on to the shoals of Foula, and been wrecked there, some of the spars having been picked up on the west coast. We believe there was a crew of six on board. – John o’Groat Journal

LERWICK – THE FOULA MAIL BOAT WRECKED

From The Scotsman 05/07/1879

Our Lerwick correspondent telegraphs: - The smack Vandevelde, carrying the mail between the island of Foula and the mainland of Shetland, was wrecked at Foula in the gale of Tuesday evening. The crew were saved, but Mr Archibald Garriock, of Reawick, in assisting at wreck, had his collar bone broken. He has since been removed to mainland. This was the second trip of the vessel since the Post Office established mail communication with Foula. Mr Stout, Postmaster of Lerwick, had gone with the smack, on official business, and has returned from Foula in a small boat.

WRECK NEAR FOULA, SHETLAND

From The Scotsman 07/12/1881

LERWICK, Tuesday. – The ship Henrietta, of Dantzig, bound for Barrow, timber laden, struck on Sunday on the reef known as the Have de Grind, near the Island of Foula, which lies out into the Atlantic some twenty miles west of the mainland of Shetland. Six men in the ship’s boat landed at Sandness yesterday, and arrived in Lerwick early this morning. The crew consists of eleven men, four of whom still remain with the ship. No further particulars have been obtained, but it is expected that the mail steamer Queen which to-day is coming round the west side of mainland, may fall in with the wreck. Telegraphing later our correspondent gives the following particulars regarding the wreck. The Henrietta was twelve days out from Dantzic, bound for Barrow, with timber; ran ashore on the Have de Grind shoal on Sunday morning. The ship became water-logged; six of the crew reached Foula in their boat. Five of them left to go back to the ship, but owing to the strong wind blowing, were driven to Sandness. The remainder of the crew stuck to the ship. It is now expected that the vessel will be driven ashore, owing to the strong southerly gale which is blowing. The ship lies in a very exposed position, there being no shelter. There has been no communication with Foula for six weeks.

SHIPWRECK AT FOULA ISLE

From The Scotsman 10/12/1881

The steamer Queen, Captain Nisbet, which arrived at Leith last night from Shetland, brings intelligence of the stranding of a large German barque at Foula, situated about sixteen miles west of the mainland of Shetland. This vessel struck on the rocks known as the Hivda Grund, two miles south-east of Foula, last Sunday morning. The rudder and sternpost were carried away, but the vessel got clear of the rocks, and, being unmanageable, the anchor was let go in forty-five fathoms of water. The position of the vessel was extremely dangerous, and it was therefore resolved to abandon her; and with this object a number of the crew left in one of the boats, taking their clothes along with them. After landing their effects on the island, and leaving one of their number in charge, the others made for the barque to bring ashore those still on board. They had not proceeded far, however, when the wind increased to a gale, preventing them from approaching the vessel. They were also unable to get back to the island, and were compelled to drive before the wind, which fortunately was from the west, and towards the Shetland coast, which they reached in safety, arriving at Sandness the same evening. It is probable that the remainder of the crew may have been landed by the islanders, but this has not as yet been ascertained, owing to the isolated position of the island, with which at this season there is no regular communication. Should favourable weather continue, it is intended to despatch the steamer Earl of Zetland in quest of the vessel and the remaining portion of the crew. The barque was timber-laden, but her name is not known.

GERMAN BARQUE HENRIETTA

From The Scotsman 14/12/1881

The Earl of Zetland left Lerwick at one o’clock on Monday morning to tow round the German barque Henrietta, laden with timber and railway sleepers. Before the Earl of Zetland arrived, the vessel had drifted northward and out of sight. She was boarded off Unst by a crew, who anchored her three miles off Balta Sound, waterlogged. The Earl of Zetland took back to Lerwick the remaining seven of the crew on Tuesday. Four of them had been taken ashore by Foula men, master and mate refusing to leave the vessel. The later stayed aboard all night but the gale coming on next day, they hoisted a distress signal. Foula men gallantly manned a boat and went off, the vessel being three miles from the shore. They had a most dangerous passage back, a fearful sea running. The boat was broken by a wave high and dry on the beach, but no one sustained any injury. After landing the shipwrecked crew at Lerwick, the Earl of Zetland proceeded north to take the vessel in tow, the men who boarded her having been compelled to leave; but a strong southerly gale springing up, she could do nothing. The vessel’s anchors are still holding. But her masts have gone, and it is expected that before the gale abates she may have drifted away. The gale increased during the day, and was blowing with great violence at night. The south cone was hoisted last night.

LEITH – ARRIVAL OF MORE SHIPWRECKED SEAMEN

From The Scotsman 28/12/1881

The steamer St Clair, Captain Masson, which arrived at Leith yesterday from Shetland, landed the master and six of the crew of the German barque Henrietta, which stranded on the Hivda Grind rocks, Foula, on the 4^th inst., the remainder of the crew having gone out to Hamburg last week. Captain Fussey and his men were seven days on Foula after abandoning their vessel, and as she had drifted out of sight, and it was doubtful whether the other members of the crew had reached the mainland of Shetland, he had begun to fear that they would have to spend the winter on Foula. On the 12^th inst. the steamer Earl of Zetland was despatched from Lerwick to look for the Henrietta, but, after having cruised all round Foula without seeing anything of her, was about to give up the search and go back to Lerwick, when a number of islanders manning a boat pulled off and acquainted the captain that the men had been landed. Captain Fussey gives great praise to the Foula men, who, he says, rescued them from their vessel at the imminent risk of their own lives, the boat in which they landed having sustained considerable damage on reaching the shore. Every attention was given to them by the people of the island, who, though poor, were extremely kind and hospitable, and this to him was the more remarkable, as neither he nor his men had anything with which to repay them. He expresses great surprise at the continued absence of a lighthouse on Foula, and mainly to that fact attributes the loss of his vessel. When last seen the Henrietta was drifting in a north-easterly direction from Shetland, but the state of the weather at that time prevented anything being done in the way of bringing her into port. The captain and the six men leave Leith for Hamburg by Messrs Currie’s steamer to-day.

THE FAROE SMACK SULAN

From The Isle of Foula by Ian B. S. Holbourn 1938

Ungrateful crews are unfortunately not exceptional. There was, for example, the Faroe smack which bumped along the rocks below North Veedale in a thick haze. The terrified sailors jumped ashore, with the exception of the captain. Andrew Manson, an islander, seeing that the vessel did not appear to be damaged, boarded her and assisted the captain to sail her into the Voe and anchor her there. The crew could not be persuaded to return to the ship, so Andrew and his brother had to sleep on board to keep the captain company. They received no payment or recognition of their services.

From The Shetland News, November 26 1898.

The Faroe smack Sulan, which stranded on Foula, and was brought to Walls six weeks ago, sailed for home on Tuesday morning.

THE MISSING LINER TEAL DUCK

From The Scotsman 18/03/1899

According to a telegram which was received at Lerwick Custom-house yesterday, it appears that information has arrived from the outlying island of Foula to the effect

that on the 5^th instant, the steam liner Teal Duck, of North Shields, was wrecked there. Nothing was known there as to the fate of the crew. This is apparently the same vessel, the wreckage of which has been found drifted ashore along the west side of Shetland, and which was supposed to have been wrecked on Saturday last. But this latest intelligence indicates that the disaster had occurred nearly a fortnight ago.

THE WRECKED STEAM LINER

From The Scotsman 20/03/1899

Letters received in Lerwick on Saturday from the island of Foula give further particulars regarding the wreck of the steam tug Teal Duck, of North Shields, on Sunday afternoon the 5^th inst. The vessel was seen lying off the east side of the Island. When darkness set in her light was observed till midnight, but when daylight came she was nowhere to be seen. The same day a piece of a vessel’s deck floated into one of the creeks, and quantities of broken wreckage were later seen all round the Island. The vessel’s name had been read with a glass as she lay off the Island, and when the nameboard was found bearing the name Teal Duck, the fate of the liner was placed beyond doubt. There are a number of sunken rocks off the Island, and it is supposed that she had struck on one of these during the night. In such a place it is considered almost impossible that the crew could have launched their boat. The vessel’s clock attached to a piece of wood was picked up. It had stopped at 1.15.

SUPPOSED LOSS OF A VESSEL AT FOULA.

From The Scotsman 01/03/1900

A report which has been received from the outlying island of Foula, on the west side of Shetland, states that late on Saturday night some broken wreckage was picked up at Ham, and more continued to come in all day on Sunday. The wreckage appeared to be the fittings of an iron steam fishing vessel, but no name or number has been found. On the previous Thursday a boat and two oars were found, apparently belonging to the same vessel.

WRECK OF A TRAWLER AT SHETLAND

From The Scotsman, 30th May 1907

WALLS (SHETLAND), May 29.

Trawler Maree wrecked at Foula. Crew safe. – Lloyd’s.

SHARK-FISHING VESSEL ASHORE IN SNOWSTORM

From The Scotsman 25/03/1937

During a snowstorm on Sunday night, it was learned at Lerwick yesterday, the Norwegian motor shark-fishing vessel Leidulf went ashore on the rocks at Foula. The crew of six put their belongings ashore.

Several Foula men succeeded in locating the vessel, which was damaged, the propeller shaft being broken. After being refloated, the vessel crossed to Scalloway. Before reaching Scalloway she again went ashore, on the Green Holm. A Foula man who was accompanying the crew went ashore in a small boat for help, but by the time he got back the vessel was afloat again.

TRAWLER GROUNDS ON FOULA SHOAL

From The Scotsman 09/04 /1938

The Hull trawler Angus went ashore yesterday on Foula Shoal, a group of rocks, believed to be on the spot where the liner Oceanic was wrecked in the early years of the war. The crew abandoned the vessel for their little boat, and the Foula men, observing the mishap, launched their mail boat. Before they could reach the trawler, however, the Aberdeen trawler Strathrye came on the scene and picked the men from the Angus, which soon afterwards slipped off the shoal and remained afloat drifting. The Strathrye thereupon took her in tow, and the two vessels were headed for Lerwick.

The Angus, a vessel of 138 tons, is owned by the Hull Northern Fishing Co., Ltd.

TRAWLER TURNS TURTLE

Sequel to Foula Reef Stranding; Crew Safe

From The Scotsman 11/04/1938

The Aberdeen trawler Strathrye, on Saturday afternoon, landed at Aberdeen the crew of the Hull trawler Angus, which was so badly damaged early on Friday morning by striking on Foula reef that it sank after being towed for six hours towards the mainland of Shetland.

There were holes forward and in the bunkers of the Angus, her rudder was broken, and her rudder shaft penetrated the oil tank. The crew took to their small boat, and their signals of distress, by waving a muffler, were observed, and were picked up by the Strathrye, but they returned to their disabled vessel to fix tow ropes.

The vessel, Skipper Christy and Mr George Wilson, the mate, stated, developed a heavy list, and when she was settling down she turned turtle and sank, the tow ropes having previously been cut.

SHIP ON ROCKS OFF FOULA

Crew Go Ashore in Own Boats

From The Scotsman 15/11/1948

The Danish timber-laden, three-masted auxiliary schooner Mordstjeren, bound for the Faroes and Iceland, ran on to the rocks at the south end of Foula, Shetland, during dense fog and darkness on Saturday. The crew of seven landed in their own boats. The vessel is believed to be wrecked. The Danish Vice-Consul at Lerwick has arranged for a salvage vessel from Lerwick to stand by to proceed if weather permits of salvage operations.

On August 29, 1914, the White Star liner Oceanic (17,234 tons) struck a submerged reef at Foula when on patrol duties in the Atlantic, and eventually became a total wreck.

SCHOONER BREAKS IN TWO

From The Scotsman 16/11/1948

The Danish schooner Mordstjeren, which ran aground on the island of Foula on Saturday, has broken in two and is lying in a deep gully with high rocks on either side. The deck cargo was washed away. The salvage drifter Lord Curson left Lerwick early yesterday morning for Scalloway and thence Foula, but had to take shelter at Walls. A strong wind and the heavy swell which is almost constant round Foula will make salvage difficult.

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From function olvOnload() { initHits() } The Scotsman, 30th May 1907

From The Scotsman 11/04/1938

SHIP ON ROCKS OFF FOULA

SCHOONER BREAKS IN TWO

From The Scotsman, 30th May 1907