Best blue plaque ever
This little detail confirmed the feeling that Stromness, and Orkney in general, is worlds away from the rest of the country. None of your sappy "A Famous Artist Lived Here" stuff. Mrs Humphreys! Whales! Scurvy! Brilliant.
Stromness is an incredibly picturesque wee place. Easy to miss if you rush through Orkney but very rewarding if you have the time to go there. More Stromness photos on Flickr.
Comments
Anne that Blue Plaque is genius!
Scurvy ridden Whale Men - this is surely the start of a novel!
Posted by: Ben Grabham | August 20, 2010 11:13 AM
The specificity of the hospital sign! You may be a whale man, you may have scurvy, but if you've not been trapped in the ice for months, sorry this is not for you. Marvellous.
Posted by: Philip Wilkinson | August 20, 2010 12:27 PM
nice! I've added it to openplaques.org at http://www.openplaques.org/plaques/3486
can you give us any idea what the address was?
Posted by: Jez | August 20, 2010 05:15 PM
Hi Jez,
Cool! I'd forgotten about your site but will now take more photos of blue plaques and take note of where they were.
I'll see if I can work the location of this one out and get back to you.
Posted by: Anne | August 20, 2010 08:47 PM
Love the plaque. Ronnie Heeps' plaques for the Merchant City Festival were great too.
Posted by: Susannah | August 21, 2010 02:28 PM
1835 was the worst year for the whaling fleets. Ships were pushed to the far North, many were crushed in the ice, the ones which were not, were trapped for months. Many crew perished and the few survivors were treated in makeshift hospitals, which this plaque commemorates.
Posted by: James | August 24, 2010 11:12 PM
Wow thanks for the background Susannah - I certainly didn't mean to belittle the experience, just that its something so far removed from our modern experience!
Posted by: Ben Grabham | August 25, 2010 12:27 PM