Archaeology Notes

Event ID 830022

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/830022

HU24SW 8001 c. 273 420

N60 9.7 W1 30.5

NLO: Burga Stacks [name: HU 255 440]

Giltarump [name: HU 273 420]

Culswick [name: HU 272 452]

Stead of Culswick [name centred HU 267 437]

Vaila [name centred HU 23 46].

Possibly on map sheet HU24NW.

Avante Savoia: [max. date] 1915

1383/1141 tons gross, 248' x 35' x 21'. Built of steel. Iquique for Rotterdam with a cargo of nitrate. No survivors, crew of about 20

Archive Ref: Scotsman 8/4/1915; SM p. 10; SN 10/4/1915; RSB

Source: Shetland Archive Service

MS/3025, no. 937.

[No cited location]. This Italian vessel sank in 1914 while carrying a cargo of saltpetre to Germany for munitions. The wreck lies between two skerries at Giltarump, and has been dived. A signal gun has been recovered.

G Ridley 1992.

(Classified as barque, with cargo of nitrate: date of loss cited as 4 April 1915). Avanti Savoia: this vessel stranded on Burga Stack, Vaila. (Newcastle, New South Wales registered?)

Registration: Savona. Built 1891. 1441grt. Length: 76m. Beam:11m.

(Location of loss cited as N60 10.83 W1 32.25).

I G Whittaker 1998.

The location of this wreck remains unclear on account of the evident discrepancies between the published accounts. The location suggested by Ridley is probably to be preferred over the less accurate location that is cited by Larn and Larn as the vessel has been dived; Whittaker is apparently in error in placing the loss on Vaila [name centred HU 23 46].

Culswick Ness is not indicated as such on the 199 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map; the village of Culswick [name: HU 271 452] lies inland. Sandsting is not noted as such on the 1999 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map, but the name apparently applies to an ill-defined area on the West coast of Shetland, around HU 31 51.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 25 February 2003.

G Ridley 1992; R and B Larn 1998; I G Whittaker 1998.