1837

Frederick Dundas (usually called Fred), Liberal, elected as MP for Orkney & Shetland.

Shetland Fishery Company was establised on the Island of Vaila by Arthur Anderson. It was an attempt to break the monopoly of the Lairds.

Professor Thomas Edmondston , of Buness, Shetland, found and named the flower "Ceratium nigrescens Edmondston ex H. C. Watson", ("Shetland Mouse - ear" , also known as "Edmonston's chickweed"), on Unst.

Robert Dunn publishes "The Ornithologist's Guide To The Islands of Orkney and Shetland".

In the Shetland Islands the cattle and inhabitants have been dying for want, A letter dated from Shetland observes that "great as the suffering is in consequence of the failure of last year's crop, the prospect before Shetland, as regards the next crop, is still more appalling. Farming operations are not yet begun, nor is there, at this moment, any indication of spring more than there was in the month of December. The ground is at present, and has been for more than a month, covered with snow, and the frost is far more intense than we usually have it in the middle of winter. The cattle are dying for want of fodder; and in their struggles to save those that are yet alive, the poor people are giving them what little corn they had reserved for seed." - from the The Gentleman's Magazine, January to June 1837, p 533.

February

Wreckage identified as belonging to the Euphemia, reported washed ashore at Dunrossness. Further information concerning the vessel or her fate is unknown.

17th
The Fly, a smack, in ballast, of and from Peterhead, Scotland, for Scalloway struck a rock near Sumburgh Head, was got off, but abandoned by her crew, and foundered in the West Voe of Sumburgh near Jarlshof.

14th
The Elvira, a Barque, shipwrecked in the North Geo, Noss, Scousburgh.

20th
The vessel Mary Cummings, of Newcastle, England presumed foundered or wrecked near Yell after wreckage washed ashore on the island.

1836< - > 1838