By mid 19th century there was increasing contact with the outside world: A steam yacht - the Vulcan - visited St Kilda in 1838. From 1877 the SS Dunara Castle (brought supplies--twice? a year) began regular summer cruises to St Kilda, and was soon joined by others such as the SS Hebrides (tourist ship as per brochure below).
The gradual loss of self-sufficiency and morale had begun - this was to end with the evacuation of the islanders in 1930.
Brochure advertising cruises to St Kilda Photograph: Glasgow Museums
Posting the mailboat in 1897 Photograph: Cherry Kearton
Fishing fleet in Village Bay Photograph: The National Trust for Scotland
Whalers and fishing fleets worked in St Kildan waters and brought supplies to the islanders.
Whalers and fishing fleets worked in St Kildan waters and brought supplies to the islanders.
John Ross, schoolmaster, noted in 1889 that islanders spent time producing goods to sell to tourists- sheepskins, tweeds, knitted gloves, stockings and scarves, eggs and ornithological items.
Selling souvenirs to tourists on the jetty
Photograph: Caledonian Newspapers
St Kildan made stockings in Glasgow Museums, collected c.1896
Photograph: Glasgow Museums
Gradually the St Kildans lost their self- sufficiency, relying on imports of food, fuel and building materials and furnishing for their homes. In 1852, 36 people emigrated to Australia, and population decline began (many of the emigrants died en-route, but a few settled in Melbourne, and to this day a suburb of the city is called St Kilda). The islanders felt increasingly isolated from the outside world and disliked particularly the lack of regular communications.
In 1876, during a period of food shortage, the first St Kilda mailboat was sent out as a distress signal. A letter was sealed in a wooden container with a sheep's bladder acting as a float. Subsequently, many of these mailboats were consigned to the sea, and most reached shore in Scotland or Scandinavia carried by the prevailing currents.
In 1912 there were acute food shortages and in 1913 an outbreak of influenza. The war of 1914-18 brought a naval detachment to Hirta and regular deliveries of mail and food from naval supply vessels. When these services were withdrawn at end of war feelings of isolation increased. There was more emigration of able-bodied young islanders and a breakdown of the island economy. In 1930 the remaining 36 islanders requested evacuation to the mainland.
A St Kilda mailboat is a wooden 'boat', containing a letter, usually sealed in a cocoa tin. A sheep's bladder acts as a float. The first mailboat was sent out as a distress signal in time of famine by John Sands, a journalist, who was stranded on St Kilda during winter of 1876. It was later used by St Kildans as a tourist gimmick.
Mailboats are now sent by St Kilda work parties as part of the ritual of visiting St Kilda. They are carried by the Gulf Stream and usually reach land in Scotland or Scandinavia. Records of mailboats, and where they were washed up, are published in the St Kilda Mail.
Parliament
The St Kilda Parliament was first referred to by this name by George Clayton Atkinson in 1838. Island men gathered in The Street to discuss work they had to perform as a group, for example, catching birds on the stacs. It was not a real parliament.
On 1 July 1999 St Kilda Work Party 4 convened a 'St Kilda Parliament' and sent greetings in a mailboat to the new Scottish Parliament (which arrived within a few weeks). They received a reply from the Presiding Officer, thanking them for their good wishes!
No comments:
Post a Comment