1612
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
- Shetland and Orkney annexed to the Crown
- Orkney and Zetland were joined as a single sheriffdom by an act of Parliament.
August
- 16th
Two Scottish troop ships left Lerwick harbour, bound for Romsdal, Norway, after staying two weeks in Shetland, training the soldiers and getting supplies. One of the ships carried one company, commanded by Colonel Alexander Ramsey, the other carried two companies, commanded by George Sinclair and George Hay. The troops were soldiers hired by the Swedish king to help defend the castle Elfsborg in the war against the Danes. The plan was to march through Norway to Sweden, but their destiny became a tragedy.
On August 19th they arrived in the Romsdalsfjord, and hired a local farmer, Ivar Helland of Vestnes who was out fishing with his daughter, as pilot. He cheated them and led them to the wrong side of the fjord, they landed at Klungnes and had to march 20 kilometers through the woods before they could start up the valley. This made another farmer, Peder Klungnes, able to alert the local sheriff. The wards were lit and the farmers gathered their weapons and started following the Scots.
On August 26th, there was made a trap at Kringen, a narrow path in Gudbrandsdal, the Scots were surrounded by the farmers and most of them killed. Only 18, among them Alexander Ramsey, were taken prisoner. They were sent to Copenhagen, and could later return to Scotland.
George Sinclair, who was the first to be killed, was a direct descendant of the Sinclairs who were Earls of Orkney and Shetland in the 14th and 15th century.
