• The last original sixareen in the boat hall during The Big Draw event. A stretch of paper sketched with a sixareen has been placed beside it for children to draw themselves in - © Mark Sinclair / Phatsheep Photography
  • The Luder, a cow horn used for signalling in poor visibility. Its been inscribed with: John:Sinclair Sandness 1822 - Photo © Didier Piquer © Khanoppée
  • A dramatic display of boats hanging in the boat hall. In the foreground is the Ina, a fishing boat. In the background you can see the Barracouta, a racer.

Boats

In the Boat Hall you see the development of boats in Shetland, from their Scandinavian roots to the present day.  Through the windows you will see the ‘floating collection’ in Hay’s Dock, linking the collection to this historic part of Lerwick.

The display offers dramatic views from both the lower and upper galleries, with boats suspended up to 14 metres in the air.

Themes include: the use of boats for transport, fishing and pleasure; the way landowners forced their tenants to fish; methods of fishing and boat-handling.

Highlights include:

  • The last original sixareen (six-oared boat) – which waited nearly 50 years to be displayed.  It was used as the basis of the design for a new sixareen which the Museum and Archives built in 2008.
  • Grøtti kettle – this huge cauldron, used to melt fish livers, shows the scale of the fishing industry 150 years ago. 
  • Luder – a signaling trumpet made from a cow’s horn, the only navigation device other than a compass that fishermen had far from land.

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