_198 St Kilda mailboat "By the late 1890s a unique system of mail dispatch had developed on the remote Scottish archipelago of St Kilda. Letters were enclosed in a waterproof receptacle, usually a sheep\u2019s bladder, attached to a homemade buoy, and launched into the sea in the hope that they would wash ashore on the mainland and be forwarded on by whoever chanced upon them. They were aiming for them to find land in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis, but depending on the current, it could take weeks or months for letters to reach their destination. There are records of mailboats washing ashore as far afield as Norway. Life of these remote islands was harsh and in August 1930 the island was evacuated on the request of the islanders and the archipelago abandoned. This mailboat came into the museum\u2019s care sometime before 1938." eulac3d Highlands Physical Object Highlands IMAGE Scottish Highlands & Islands "By the late 1890s a unique system of mail dispatch had developed on the remote Scottish archipelago of St Kilda. Letters were enclosed in a waterproof receptacle, usually a sheep\u2019s bladder, attached to a homemade buoy, and launched into the sea in the hope that they would wash ashore on the mainland and be forwarded on by whoever chanced upon them. They were aiming for them to find land in the Outer Hebrides on the Isle of Lewis, but depending on the current, it could take weeks or months for letters to reach their destination. There are records of mailboats washing ashore as far afield as Norway. Life of these remote islands was harsh and in August 1930 the island was evacuated on the request of the islanders and the archipelago abandoned. This mailboat came into the museum\u2019s care sometime before 1938." Still Image "" image/jpeg Alex Gillespie Still Image "" image/jpeg Alex Gillespie Still Image "" Fin Macrae Still Image "" image/jpeg Still Image "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Text "" Bill Cameron Text "" Bill Cameron Text 57.8111196 -8.5677486