The Skeo of Fethaland

Fethaland was once Shetland's busiest haaf-fishing station — until a single storm in 1832 killed over a hundred men in a single afternoon and ended deep-sea rowing fishing in the islands for good.

Fethaland, at the extreme northern tip of Shetland's mainland, was once the largest haaf-fishing station in the islands, home at its peak to around sixty open sixareen boats and the seasonal fishermen who rowed them far out into the North Atlantic to fish the deep grounds known as the haaf. Along the shore, the fishermen built skeos — small dry-stone huts, open to the wind, used to air-cure the fish they caught before it was carried back to the crofts inland. On the 16th of July 1832, a violent and unforecast gale caught the haaf fleet far from shore. Contemporary accounts differ on the exact toll — most agree that around seventeen boats were lost and roughly 105 men drowned in a single afternoon, though some sources put the number of boats as high as thirty-one. The disaster became known simply as "The Bad Day," and among the dead was a full crew from Fethaland itself: Isaac Gifford of Mossbank, the boat's skipper, and six other men from the surrounding crofts. A relief fund raised in London afterward collected some £3,000 for the survivors and families of the dead, but the industry never fully recovered. The Bad Day marked the beginning of the end for haaf fishing as Shetland had practised it for generations, and Fethaland's station gradually emptied over the following decades. The skeos still stand along the shore today, roofless and open to the same wind that took the fleet.

Folklore Disclaimer: These accounts are drawn from local tradition, oral history, and community memory. They are not presented as factual claims.

Location accuracy: Approximate. Coordinates indicate the general area.