Saint Olaf: Horse Of The Knabb, Bressay Sound

HU44SE 8033 c. 480 402

N60 8.6 W1 8.1

NLO: Horse of the Knabb [name: HU 480 402]

Brei Wick [name centred HU 473 404]

Bressay [name centred HU 50 40]

Bressay Sound [name centred HU 485 415]

Lerwick [name: HU 475 415].

Formerly also entered as HU44SE 8052 at cited location HU c. 473 404 [N60 8.8 W1 8.9].

St Olaf: [max. date] 1881

139 tons. Built 1875 at Neyland Pembrokeshire. Wick for Lerwick to land herring for the Baltic Mistook town lights for those of ships lying off. Drove ashore after dropping anchor Crew saved themselves.

Archive Ref: ST 26/11/1881; RSB

MS/3025, no. 705.

21 November 1881, ST OLAF, 6 yrs old, of Wick, Lloyd's 13 A 1., last survey 5.76, wooden schooner, 139 tons, 6 crew, Master J. Milne, Owner J. Bremner, Wick, departed Wick for Lerwick, in ballast, wind S8, stranded, total loss, near Nab Point, Lerwick, Shetland Isles.

Source: PP Abstracts Returns of Wrecks and Casualties on Coasts of the UK [Record received incomplete].

NMRS, MS/829/69 (no. 3220).

Lerwick, Nov. 21, 9.25 a.m., ST. OLAF schooner, of and from Wick (ballast), on shore at west side of Knab Point, near Lerwick: expected to break up: crew saved.

Source: Shipping Intelligence, LL, No. 21,082, London, Tuesday November 22 1881.

Lerwick, Nov. 21, ST. OLAF, advised by telegraph this morning, will be a total [Record received incomplete].

NMRS, MS/829/70 (no. 5253).

(Classified as wooden schooner, with cargo of herring or in ballast: date of loss cited as 21 November 1881). St Olaf: this vessel was stranded near Nab Point, Lerwick [Horse of the Knabb], at The Slates, Brei Wick, or at Waari Geo. [Capt.] Milne.

Registration: Wick. Built 1875. 139 tons register.

(Location of loss cited as N60 8.75 W1 8.5).

I G Whittaker 1998.

The location that is assigned to this record is essentially tentative, but falls within the ill-defined area of Lerwick Harbour (HU44SE 32: centred HU 47722 41345). This takes the form of an extensive roadstead which comprises the waters of Bressay Sound between the narrow Northern entrance (around HU 475 445) and the broader Southern entrance (around HU 483 400). The main facilities are to be found around HU 477 414, on the W side of the Sound; recent development extends Northwards from this point.

Neither The Slates nor Waari Geo are noted as such on the 1998 edition of the OS 1:50,000 map. Nab Point may be equated with Horse of the Knabb.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 5 May 2003.