Scapa 1919 — story told through film 100 years on

Author and naval historian Nick Jellicoe will be back in Orkney next week for the centenary of the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow.

After he wrote about Jutland and his grandfather’s role in the battle, Nick decided that the final chapter of Jutland — the scuttling — was something he wanted to tackle in the same way. Not content with writing just one book, he decided to author two: one will be the scuttle story in photographs, From Scuttle to Salvage, which will be launched this Thursday, June 20. The  other, The Last Days of the High Seas Fleet, is the more in depth story of the German Naval mutiny, and how the Fleet came to be interned in Scapa. Both are on sale at the Orcadian Bookshop.

As with Jutland, Nick decided to tell the story in film. He is passionate about passing history on to his childrens’ generation, and says he felt that this would be a best way of reaching younger people who prefer video to text. The 25-minute animation has already been seen by more than 2,000 people online, and was made possible through crowdfunding and the help of numerous museums and archives, the Kirkwall Library and Archives being among them.

Nick will be talking about the scuttle on June 20 at 2pm at the St Magnus Centre, where with him, many of the descendants will participate. He’ll also talk at Stromness Academy on Monday June 24, and at Kirkwall Grammar School that afternoon. He will also sign copies of From Scuttle to Salvage at The Orcadian Bookshop on June 20, from 11am to 1pm.