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Updated: May 14, 2025
It happened this way: Four of us had a boat out on the bay, and we sailed about from point to point, fancying ourselves sailors voyaging on foreign seas. Our dinghy, we imagined, was a sailing vessel, and the broad bay of Stromness represented the Atlantic Ocean.
Walking along the wharf, looking down upon the decks of the vessels that lay against the old stone quay brigs, barques, and schooners, some of them bound foreign, but most of them from Scotland I came to a little coasting schooner that I had often seen in the harbour of Stromness. She was named the Falcon.
They appear to speak the same language as the tribe of Esquimaux who reside near to the Moravian settlements in Labrador: for we perceived they used several of the words which had been given to us by the Missionaries at Stromness.
The party consisted of six in number; and the foreman’s brother, wishing to go directly to his native place, took his passage in a vessel bound from Stromness to Anstruther, while the rest embarked on board a schooner bound for Leith. The vessel sailed with a fair wind early on the 24th December, 1806.
The treasure was heaped upon the tombstone, and as I regarded it I foresaw the difficulty of the task before me; for the pieces were obviously of very varied values, and I did not see how I could easily distribute them into four equal shares. But I made the attempt according to the manner that I had seen adopted by the fishermen at Stromness in dividing their fish.
There was no counter or bar, and the liquor was brought "ben" by Oliver or his sonsie wife. One Saturday morning I had to go there to see old David Flett about a boat that Captain Gordon wanted to buy from him. I found him at the inn before me, sitting there with a goodly company of Stromness men and skippers, whose ships were, like the Lydia, undergoing repairs or waiting for fair winds.
"I have something here for you, sir," I said to the schoolmaster, holding up the dead falcon that I carried. "Oh! come along with us, too, Halcro. Send your dog home, and come and take some supper with me." I assented, and continued walking by his side as he talked with the captain. We had now entered the street of Stromness.
A different scene, however, presented itself, as we anchored the next day in the commodious harbour of Stromness.
When this excitement was over, and the lieutenant had ordered his men to return to their boat, I was wondering what their movements would be in regard to myself. Would they leave me to climb the cliff and go home, or would they take me round to Stromness? I was not left long in doubt.
The boat had pushed off, when I called out to the skipper that I would walk home to Stromness if he would take the ship into port. I had returned home and was seated at dinner, when I thought of the dog and looked about for her. But she had not come back; so I went down to the jetty at the end of the Anchor Close, to see if I could discover the boat or any of the lads.
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