A St Kilda mailboat is a wooden 'boat', containing a letter, usually sealed in a cocoa tin. A sheep's bladder acts as a float. The first mailboat was sent out as a distress signal in time of famine by John Sands, a journalist, who was stranded on St Kilda during winter of 1876. It was later used by St Kildans as a tourist gimmick.

A new album of both historical and musical importance has been launched by The National Trust for Scotland. ‘The St Kilda Mail Boat’ brings together very old and previously unrecorded songs of St Kilda, performed by distinguished Gaelic singer Dr Anne Lorne Gillies.

The album has been carefully researched and brings to life the people who once lived in the islands. The 20 songs tell the stories of the many characters who once lived in these remote islands, telling tales of love and longing and loss, work and play, happiness and sorrow.

“The idea for the album first arose when I was performing on board the National Trust for Scotland’s annual Hebridean cruise. The St Kildans have been described as unusually musical and I have tried to reflect this in every one of the songs on the album. The songs are full of local colour, customs, language, preoccupations and a way of thinking that could only have been emanated from this most remote of communities”, said Anne.

The album was literally launched in a custom made mail-boat from the shores of Hirta, the largest of the St Kilda islands. A specially designed mail-boat, just big enough to hold a CD, has been made by piper and wood worker Dunan MacColl. Traditionally the people on St Kilda would send messages in similar vessels, which would reach the shores of Shetland or Scandinavia.

You will find more information and be able to busy the An Long Hirteach - St Kilda Mail-Boat album here.

You can find more articles in the archive under Fada 's Farsaing (Far and Wide)