In Orkney we have a superb library service but up and down Scotland local libraries are either closing or have been closed. In this series during Book Week Scotland we are looking at libraries, their past, present, and how they are adapting to the needs of the public.
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Libraries have existed for hundreds of years and sometimes in places you would not think of at first.
Libraries at Sea
Image: His Majesty’s Discovery ships, Fury and Hecla by Arthur Parsey (Artist & Engraver) Charles Joseph Hullmandel (Printer) in 1823 PAH9224. Arthur Parsey (artist and engraver); Hullmandel, Charles Joseph (printer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By 1833 there were 80 libraries on board British merchant ships administered by the Ocean Libraries Department of the British and Foreign Sailors Society. This number soon increased. From 1860 to 1880 5,000 libraries were established on merchant vessels. This was a mobile library service in every way.
The service continued to grow but was always looking for funding which was boosted by a £500 grant from the Carnegie Trust for three years running.
The British and Foreign Sailors Society was established in 1818 and had been supplying merchant vessels with loan libraries for the free use of the officers and men. Libraries were also supplied to naval vessels: HMS Fury and HMS Hecla were supplied with books when they left London in 1821. They were heading for an expedition to the Arctic on William Parry’s expedition to look for the North West Passage. This was the second of three voyages Parry was to make seeking the illusive North West Passage.
In October, the ice closed in and they were frozen in at ‘Winter Island’ for nine months. Keen to avoid boredom among the crew, Parry set up the Royal Arctic Theatre, where shows were presented each fortnight. A school and observatory were also formed. William Edward Parry final North-West Passage expeditions 1821–25
The reading material in the library would have provided an important resource for the men and officers trapped for so long in the cold and frozen conditions that they were experiencing.
The Society also provided libraries on board Scott’s vessel Discovery, and that of Shackleton’s Endurance. Shackleton also had on board a collection of his own books.
Image: The stern of the Endurance with the name and emblematic polestar. Image © Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust / National Geographic
Space was very tight on all these vessels but room was always found for books and a free library. That’s how important reading and free access to books was considered to be for the wellbeing of the men serving on board the ships.
Reference: The Orkney Herald, 22nd October 1924.
Fiona Grahame