Museum day of exploration, research and discoveries

Tuesday June 13th - Meetings and Research

A day spent in Shetland Museum and Archives and a meeting with John Hunter, exhibitions officer, to discuss the layout of the space.. how the sound will work... where screens will be placed etc etc.  

Then off into the Archives to talk to the lovely Angus and Blair who patiently find 19th C documents for us to photograph, all of which are fascinating, and we listen again to recordings of the voices of James Cheyne and Christie Irvine recalling days at Stenness and the fishing.

 

'Shipped off at Stenness' - list of ling caught by Stenness fishermen, dated 1817

We are given handwritten documents that we attempt to transcribe. Wonderful records of the names of fishermen working at Stenness, detailing Ling received at Stenness 1812 - numbers of fish caught on different days by each sixareen crew (6 men in each team) with the weight of each fish. This information would be noted by the Laird's factor and set against the men's other debts - rent and purchases in the Laird's shop - as noted in the Stenness Day Book - and which would often exceed the money earned during the fishing season, leaving the men in debt.

Page from Stenness Day Book 1894 - courtesy of Tangwick Haa Museum

 I could spend days in there ... 

Then of course there are the items in the museum relating to Haaf fishing... sixareens, ling hooks and line...
 

section of sixareen

Ling fishing hook

Luder horn

And a luder horn... an important instrument for haaf fishermen, used particularly in a thick mist at sea. 
Come to the opening of our installation and you'll hear it blown.