The People's Advocate

Curious notions of morality appear to prevail among certain inhabitants of the Orkney Isles, who, when a wreck has taken place on their coast, are, it seems, in the habit of carrying off for their own use everything they can lay their predatory hands on. This occurred recently when the bark Poolscar of Liverpool was wrecked out twelve miles from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney. The enterprising natives confiscated coils of rope, cases of wine, spars, ship fittings, and stores, so that at the sale of what was left of the unfortunate vessel "there was not exposed so much as a tin of meat, pot of paint, ship's compass, clock, or any other of the small odds and ends generally sold upon such occasions." So clean a sweep had been made that even the legs of the cabin table had been sawn across close to the floor, and the table bodily carried away. These people, who consider plundering a wreck perfectly legitimate, are reported to be a highly moral race. An ordinary case of theft is hardly known, and the only reason why they make an exception in favor of the flotsam and jetsam of a stranded vessel is that "they still hold by the old principle that a wreck is a gift from Providence."