1977

Point of Fethaland Lighthouse first lit.
An outbreak of measles in 1977-1978 affected 1032 Shetlanders, about 5% of the population.

April

2nd
St Clair (III) leaves Lerwick for the final time.
7th
The Arctic Hunter a British steel hulled fishing vessel registered in Glasgow, ran around near Mid Yell in a gale.

24th
Carl Emil Pettersen arrives Lerwick, on his way to Greenland with L/S Rundø, the old restored pilot vessel which was a refugee ship in 1941. Rundø's flag from wartime was given to the museum in Lerwick. Rundø was later that summer wrecked in the ice near Greenland.

3rd
James C. Mowat, crofter at Murrion, Eshaness, and author of books on Johnnie Notions dies.

3rd
A convoy of 96 boats from all parts of west Norway set out from Måløy, bound for Lerwick, Måløy's friendship town.

9th
Elinor Viking, A278 (Skipper, Alec Flett), shipwrecked on the Ve Skerries. All lives saved thanks to a British Airways helicopter, with a volunteer crew, from their base at Sumburgh Airport, which winched the crew to safety within hours of the grounding, at the request of Alec Webster, Coastguard Station Officer, Lerwick. This proved the value of helicopters for rescue operations, and may well have been the example needed for the formation of todays coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Sumburgh Airport.
It is worth contrasting this wreck with that of the 'Ben Doran' on 29th March 1930, in which all lives were lost even though the ship was wrecked in relatively fine conditions