RMS Oceanic

This is the base of one of the propeller blades from the Oceanic, which stands outside the Shetland Museum in Lerwick. The blade is enormous - I am hopeless at estimating, but I would say it must be about 10 foot tall. These bolt holes are about 8" across.

The RMS Oceanic was built for White Star Line at Harland and Wolfe in Belfast. When launched, in 1899, she was the biggest liner in the world. In 1914 she was taken over by the Navy, and sent to patrol the northern Atlantic, particularly round Shetland. Two weeks later she ran aground between the island of Foula and the Shetland Mainland. Luckily (and incredibly) the weather was flat calm, and all on board were rescued.

It has been a glorious day today, frosty - it was -5 outside the house this morning - calm, and with a little snow tonight, at long last. I went back to work, feeling pretty knackered, but at least its just a two day week.