Primary pupils put on whaling disaster exhibition at museum

An exhibition about the Diana whaling disaster put together by primary school pupils has been unveiled at Shetland Museum.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the vessel returning to Shetland after being trapped in ice for seven months while whaling in the Arctic.

The museum invited pupils from Aith Junior High School to curate the exhibition after staff were impressed by their performance of a play called The Voyage of the Diana at Shetland County Drama Festival in March.

All 40 pupils who took part in the project went on a school trip last Friday to see the fruits of their labour.

Primary 6 pupil Eva Clark, 10, from Aith said she was impressed with what she saw.

“I think it’s cool – it just shows what we have learned. And I like having the TV here so we can see our performance of the play as well,” she said.

Archives assistant Mark Smith said: “The kids wrote the text, selected the objects, and wrote all the captions. They did the bulk of the work.

“It’s a new kind of collaboration for us here. We had never done that before – we had never handed over to a school, saying ‘you do that.’

“I’m really pleased the kids could come in to see their work.”

On 19th February 1866, the Bremen-built Diana set sail from her home port of Hull, heading north for Jan Mayen Island, off Greenland, in search of seals.

She picked up 26 Shetlanders in Lerwick to bulk up her skeleton crew and then carried on her way. But it was to prove an unsuccessful trip and with not a single seal to her name, the Diana returned to Lerwick where she anchored on 28th April.

Trapped

When she set sail again 10 days later, it was to hunt for whales in Pond’s Inlet off the northeast coast of Canada.

However, she ran into a great deal of ice all along the coast and became trapped.

The Shetlanders set up camp on an iceberg by fashioning makeshift tents out of spare sails and spars.

Conditions on board the ship were appalling. Not only did the men endure bitterly cold temperatures, their food supplies were so limited they became seriously malnourished, prompting scurvy to take hold of many.

The ship’s surgeon Charles Edward Smith kept a daily journal of the crew’s experiences, which makes for harrowing reading.

On Thursday, 31st January 1867, he illustrated how difficult it was to keep the ship in working order.

He wrote: “Intensely cold again last night. This is dreadful work; it is murdering us. We cannot endure it much longer in our starving, exhausted condition.”

So it was to everyone’s tremendous relief when, in March 1867, a strong wind blowing from the northeast helped to free the ship from the ice and she began the homeward journey.

On Tuesday 2nd April 1867, the Diana arrived at Ronas Voe. The Scotsman printed an account of a survivor who said the people he met off the boat were “uncommonly kind”.

He said: “I have never met so much attention in all my life. They would have done anything for us. They sent men and boats to help us, and supplied us with all kinds of provisions.”
The

The Diana anchored in Lerwick on Thursday, 11th April 1867. But amid the joy that greeted the men coming off the boat, for some Shetland families there was deep misery.

Survivor

Nine of the 26 Shetlanders who went on the expedition died.

One who survived was Christopher Tait, a half-deck boy from Hoit, East Burrafirth, and two relatives of his were among the Aith Junior High School pupils who visited the museum last Friday.

Sadie Anderson, 10, from East Burrafirth and Charlie Anderson, 10, from Gonfirth said they are related to Tait, who was the last living survivor of the Diana’s crew until he died aged 91 in 1940.

“It’s really cool. It’s amazing,” said Sadie, when asked how she felt about being related to Mr Tait. “I feel that there’s something special about it. East Burrafirth’s history is very cool and weird.”

Sadie also said she has spoken to Rhoda Tulloch, granddaughter of Mr Tait.

“Christopher Tait died when she [Rhoda Tulloch] was four but she told me she can remember how he had to sit down on wool because he was so sore after the Diana,” said Sadie.

Headteacher Michael Spence: “I think it was good that the pupils had an input into the exhibition because they built up a lot of knowledge and I was speaking to the museum and archives staff and they were saying how good it was to get the pupils involved because they were giving ideas that the adults wouldn’t have thought of.

“Hopefully it encourages pupils to come with their families. That builds their knowledge of Shetland, which is what the museum is here for.

“The kids have certainly enjoyed themselves.”