|
|
|
Oceania Cruise to the United Kingdom - June/July 2013 |
||||
| Lerwick (Shetland Islands), Scotland | ||||
 |
 |
|||
| Rugged landscape and heathered moors. | ||||
 |
 |
|||
| Jarlshof prehistoric site | ||||
 |
 |
|||
| Stone age settlements of the Bronze and Iron Age | Norse settlement dating back to the 9th century | |||
 |
 |
|||
| Occupied for more than 4,000 years | Shetland ponies inhabit the island since Viking days and were used to carry peat. | |||
 |
 |
|||
|
Hoswick whale case of 1888 -- islanders drove 340 whales ashore (known as a
caa). During the previous 150 years or so Shetland landlords had been in the
habit of claiming a half or latterly a third of the value of all whales
driven on their property. John Bruce junior of Sumburgh therefore claimed a
third of the Hoswick whales.
Led by the charismatic shopkeeper Sinclair T. Duncan, and abetted by Rev. George Clark, the saintly Free Church minister of Cunningsburgh, they challenged Bruce's claim in the sheriff court. Shetlanders at home and abroad contributed money to the campaign. In July 1889 Sheriff MacKenzie found in their favour, on the grounds that the landlords' alleged right wasn't "sufficiently inveterate, uniform, or uninterrupted" to be genuine. Bruce appealed to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. In June 1890 the case was heard, and three of the four judges decided in the captors' favour. They said that there was a custom whereby landlords had claimed part of the value of whales, but that it wasn’t ‘just or reasonable’, and that it didn't have the force of law. The captors got their whale money, or what was left of it, and there were no more such claims by Shetland landlords. |
||||
| or | Continue | |||