1885

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia

• Thomas Manson established the firm T & J Manson with his brother James Manson.
• 825 herring boats fished in the Shetland District, half from the south, with average catches of 280 crans for the season. The aggregate catch was 231,000 crans, yielding 370,238 barrels of cured herring.
• 350 decked sail fishing boats crewed by 2000 men owned in Shetland, demonstrating the rapidity of growth of the herring fishery, and the popularity of these vessels as the fishing vessel of choice. The first locally owned decked vessel having only arrived 8 years previously in 1877.

January

• 14th
  Author and folklorist E. S. Reid Tait was born.
• 21st
  John Bruce, the tenth Laird of Sumburgh, died

June

• 27th
  Foundation stone of Lerwick U.P. Church laid.
• The Shetland News, a weekly newspaper for Shetland was established by Thomas Manson. The newspaper continued to print until 1963

August

• 13th
  The Voyager, an unregistered, but owned in Leith, Scotland, fishing lugger, on a fishing trip out of Lerwick wrecked on Horse Holm in Force 10 wind conditions. Five of the crew were saved, one was lost.

December

• Leonard Lyell, Liberal, elected as MP for Orkney & Shetland.
  He held the seat until 1900.
• 15th
  The Havana, laden with a cargo of coal put in to Lerwick Harbour in a damaged condition and began discharging. She was subsequently purchased by Hay & Company for use as a coal storage hulk.

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