A Kist of Emigrants

Shetland - the most northerly islands in the British Isles - has finite resources and when, in the 19th century, its population eventually exceeded the capacity of the and and sea to support them, many individuals and whole families had to leave. Between 1860 and 1880, at least 8,000 Shetlanders, more than a quarter of the population, emigrated to destinations all over the world, but predominantly to mainland Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and America. The exodus had begun some decades earlier and it continued right up to the 1960s before the advent of North Sea oil trade reversed the tide. The majority of emigrants were homesteaders carrying with them native skills in boating, farming and fishing, spinning and knitting, and very often a strong faith and a determination of mind - nowhere they were going to could have fewer opportunities than faced them at home. They cleared land and raised livestock, became gold and silver miners, joined the Hudson's Bay Company, sailed the world's oceans as seamen and raised their children to levels that could not have been possible in Shetland. "A Kist of Emigrants" is illustrated with many photos, poems and letters and contains over 100 unique stories of 1000 Shetland emigrants.