Super User Omeka MetsExport Plugin The software used to generate this document is called Omeka MetsExport, which operates as a plugin for Omeka. Documentation can be found at http://github/MetsExport/ St Kilda mailboat Highlands 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’s 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’s care sometime before 1938. Scottish Highlands & Islands 1930s eulac3d Physical Object 65 23/12/2021 West Highland Museum find,57.8111196,-8.5677486; 201 organic, wood 1013 West Highlands Museum TEXT