1878
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
- The burial ground at Kirk of Noss had become disused by 1878.
January
- 20th/21st
The Fairy Queen (LK39), a schooner, laden with iron ore, of Lerwick, from Sandlodge, Sandwick and for Grangemouth, Scotland, drove from anchor while sheltering in Lerwick Harbour and wrecked at Gardie, Bressay.
February
- 7th
A wooden hulled open boat, name not known, Captain and owner A. Smith, Gluss Ayre, Ollaberry, two crew, carrying a cargo of salt. This vessel foundered in Yell Sound during W Force 6 wind conditions, with the loss of both souls aboard. - The Chance, a wooden hulled sail smack, departed Lerwick and capsized in Bressay Sound during NW Force 7 wind conditions, with the loss of both souls aboard. The wreck is believed to have been salvaged, but details are not known.
March
- 13th
Sir Robert Stout appointed attorney general in Sir George Grey's New Zealand government.
April
- 15th or 20th
The Nova Zembla, a steamship, of Dundee, Scotland wrecked in Lerwick Harbour.
May
- 13th
Queen Victoria appoints Charles Rampini to fill the position of Sheriff-Substitute of Orkney & Shetland in Lerwick when Andrew Mure resigns.
June
- The James Dunnamore, a wooden hulled cutter, registered in Lerwick, drove ashore during a gale and wrecked at Holmsgarth, Lerwick Harbour.
July
- 25th
Sir Robert Stout appointed New Zealand's minister for lands and immigration.
August
- 6th
The Telegraph (1878), a smack, British registered, departed Torshavn, Faeroe on or around this date with twenty-two people onboard, her own crew, plus the crew of the previously wrecked Gondloa (Gondola??) and was never seen again. Presumed lost somewhere between Faeroe and Shetland.
September
- 15th
The Pride Of The Ocean, a sail fishing smack in ballast, of Lerwick, went ashore on "Drury Isle". Most probably Green Isle, Dury Voe, North Nesting. She was refloated and assisted in to shallow water were she was beached the same day, but was extensively damaged. Her eventual fate is not recorded. - 18th
The Earl Of Zetland (1878), a schooner, laden with a cargo of salt, of and from Liverpool, England, and for Lerwick, drove from anchor and grounded in Grutness Voe while taking shelter. Refloating herself, she drifted before the wind and finally wrecked on the Flaeshans of Rumble, Whalsay. - 20th
The Mariner, described as a "decked boat", wrecked in Harold's Wick, Unst.
November
- 5th
Election of the Lerwick Town Council.
