Visit of German Active Fleet

Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia that anyone can edit

The visit of thirty three ships of the German Active Fleet to Lerwick in July 1904 was very well received by the people of Lerwick.

Lerwick has always been a cosmopolitan town, and used to seeing the arrival of ships of all nationalities, but the scale of this visit surpassed anything that had been seen in living memory. Contemporary reports tell of lines of ships stretching almost out to the Bressay Lighthouse ,whilst the normal harbour traffic continued. It was in the fishing season, so arriving fishing boats weaved their way through the anchored fleet, and the passenger boats came as usual. Launches came and went from the fleet, and rowing and sailing boats from the town circled the fleet. There were no accidents, and the good behaviour of the German sailors impressed the Lerwegians. In beautiful summer weather, the sailors came ashore in their thousands, went on trips, took photographs, shopped, and were made welcome in the town. Some of the ships were opened to the public, launches took visitors out to the ships, bands played, and flags flew everywhere. The sight of the vessels in the dim of the evening, bedecked with electric lights glinting in the calm harbour, brought many sightseers from outwith Lerwick. After four days at anchor, at different times, the ships started to leave, and the harbour was empty, but for the next week their near presence could be heard as they practised gunnery at sea. Some of the smaller ships entered some of the voes at night and parties of sailors landed so that "islanders abroad in the night time met bands of Germans traversing the country silently and swifly, like companies of the dead"

Later the same year, four ships of the Channel Fleet, under Admiral Lord Beresford, visited Lerwick, but their sailors seemed to misconstrue and lack appreciation of the islander's welcome, and again a contemporary writer stated "when the Channel fleet steamed away they left a strong pro-German feeling in Shetland".