Deck cabin due to be unveiled
Westray’s Wheeling Steen Gallery and Tearoom is due to unveil a much-anticipated twist to the space tomorrow, marking eight years since the gallery first opened.
Beneath the mezzanine, the cabin of a Norwegian barque, the Emerald, takes centre stage — and is to open to the public for the first time on Monday evening, at 7.30pm.
The vessel was making its way from New York to Gothenburg, in 1879, when it was driven on to the rocks by heavy seas, between Westray and Papay. The crew survived their ordeal, but the ship was broken up and sold off.
The largest deck cabin was taken to the croft of Bucklesberry, which overlooks the Quoydyke, where the Emerald went aground. Fast-forward to 1983 — Edwin and Rosemary Rendall made the cabin their home, with an extension at the rear.
They became the last family to live in the cabin, which was occupied for 123 years.
When the original Wheeling Steen gallery was extended, the Rendalls decided to make a new feature out of the cabin, and it was incorporated into the new modern space. Hints of the past are integral to the new, unusual gallery space, which has until now, remained under wraps.
Remnants of old wallpaper and many original features are still in place, and, along with the display of Edwin’s seascape paintings, the cabin invokes a stirring sense of maritime history.
