Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Old Photograph Quendale Shetland Islands Scotland
Old photograph of Quendale located on the South West tip of the South coast of mainland Shetland Islands, Scotland. This is where the Braer oil tanker ran aground in January 1993. It was en route from Bergen, Norway to Quebec, Canada, laden with 85,000 tonnes of Norwegian Gullfaks crude oil. At first was feared that the ship would founder near Horse Island, and the experience of Aegean Sea which burst into flames shortly after grounding led the coastguard to persuade the Greek captain Alexandros S. Gkelis to abandon ship. However, because of strong North West local currents, Braer moved against the prevailing wind and missed Horse Island, drifting towards Quendale Bay. Fortunately for Shetland, the Gulfaks crude Braer was carrying was not a typical North Sea oil. Gulfaks crude is lighter and more easily biodegradable than other North Sea crude oils, and this, in combination with some of the worst storms seen in Shetland,, naturally dispersing the oil by wave action and evaporation, prevented the event becoming an even bigger disaster.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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