Pineapples galore for islanders as lost cargo bears fruit
Scavengers join hunt on beaches as ship’s load washes ashore in Scotland
IT HAS not quite been greeted with the enthusiasm of the bottles of Scotch in Whisky Galore, but the arrival of a cargo of pineapples on the shores of northern Scotland has sent scavengers rushing to the beach.
The fruit, which has appeared on Shetland and on beaches across the Western Isles, is thought to have come from several containers lost overboard in the Atlantic last October by cargo ship MV Lombok Strait. Shetland islanders have now shared photos of their fruitful haul, in a story that echoes the plot of Whisky Galore, the 1947 novel by Sir Compton Mackenzie, later made and remade for the big screen.
The story tells of how the locals find their island awash with whisky after a ship loaded with liquor is wrecked off a fictional Scottish island.
The plot was based on the real-life salvage operations carried out by locals when the SS Politician, carrying 280,000 bottles of malt whisky, ran aground on Eriskay in 1943.
The arrival of the pineapples will be far less lucrative for beachcombers, and not as profitable, either, as the grounding of the cargo ship MSC Napoli off Branscombe beach in Devon in 2007.
Then scavengers ignored police advice and arrived in their droves to explore shipping containers, which contained motorbikes, pet food, wine barrels and anti-wrinkle cream. More recently, Storm Rachel caused a surprise bonanza for beachcombers in Cornwall in 2015 when a deluge of oranges and lemons washed ashore.
Experts had predicted that the beaches in Shetland and the Western Isles would be the most likely landing point for the pineapples, after the cargo went missing. It was reported at the time that the MV Lombok Strait was used by the fruit giant Del Monte.
Zoe Henry, who found pineapples at Meal Sand Beach in Burra, said: “I thought it was very strange – you would find them in a tropical island, not Shetland.
“I left them – they were a bit shrivelled up.”
Another find at the weekend was photographed at Watsness beach.
Anyone sighting washedup fruit in Scotland in the next few weeks is being asked to visit the Facebook page of the Lowestoft-based Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, which is tracking findings.
The story of the lost containers was already well known on Shetland before this latest incident. It was the focus of a performance at the South Mainland Up Helly Aa festival in March.
The Fisherman from Del Monte Say Yes was about fishermen going to catch fish but they caught pineapples and bananas instead.
Squad member Angela Thomson said: “It’s good to hear the pineapples have arrived on the beaches in Shetland.”