Burnwick, Lifeboat Station View from W showing WNW front of lifeboat shed and seaweed tangles drying
SC 459500
Description Burnwick, Lifeboat Station View from W showing WNW front of lifeboat shed and seaweed tangles drying
Date 30/4/1976
Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland
Catalogue Number SC 459500
Category On-line Digital Images
Scope and Content Drying seaweed, Burwick, South Ronaldsay, Orkney Over many centuries seaweed has been used for a variety of purposes, as manure, as food, burned to form kelp as a source of soda and iodine, and as a source of alginates, used in the food industry as a thickener. This view shows seaweed stems, collected from the beach after storms, drying in heaps to make them saleable to a processing company. This was a source of additional income for the local farmer/fishermen. Burwick lifeboat station is also visible. Alginate Industries had in the 1970s plants near Oban and near Girvan where the washed seaweed stems were boiled with caustic soda to form a solution of sodium alginate. Addition of hydrochloric acid precipitated alginic acid, a saleable product. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
External Reference H76/25/16
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/459500
File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap
Attribution: © HES. Reproduced courtesy of J R Hume
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