New seafaring books available

DUNBEATH-based publisher Whittles has produced two new books on a maritime theme.

Hard Down! Hard Down! is a vivid and personal account of Shetland seafaring during the second half of the 19th century, while Archie’s Lights is a revealing glimpse into the world of a Scottish lightkeeper.

Hard Down! Hard Down! concerns the life and times of Captain John Isbester from Shetland by Captain Jack Isbester.

Readers have an opportunity to see beyond the rigours of daily life in sail and find something of the social origins and familial life of one of the last great shipmasters to sail the oceans. There are stories of shipwrecks through grounding; ships consumed by fire with crews making lengthy passages in lifeboats before rescue; and a capsized ship drowning its master but its crew saved in a masterpiece of a rescue. The tragic loss of the Dalgonar is also recounted in gripping and vivid detail.

Archie’s Lights is about the life and times of a Scottish lightkeeper by Archie and Anne MacEachern.

The book concerns the freedom of a lighthouse childhood with memories of shining copper and brass, sweeping light beams and fog signals. Its stories are a valuable addition to lighthouse service history and to the social history of Scotland and the Isle of Man.

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