The remarkable story of a woman’s lone survival on a storm-battered boat has been captured in an interactive walk-through arts display offering people a sense of her real-life drama.
Staged on beaches around Scotland, the innovative production landed at Nairn at the weekend, to share a taste of her life-threatening but uplifting experience through sound, sight and smell of the sea.
Betty Mouat was the only passenger on the coastal cutter Columbine, that sailed from Grutness at the southern tip of Shetland bound for Lerwick in January 1886.
In the end, she was the only survivor when, soon after setting sail, its captain and crew were washed overboard in a storm.
The 61-year-old, who boarded the boat armed with balls of wool she intended to sell, was presumed lost at sea. Instead, she survived for nine days until she was found when the vessel grounded on Lepsoy in Norway.
The arts installation Drift tells the story through newly written songs and other sounds relayed through headphones, and nautical props laid out on the beach.
Her dramatic story has been recreated by Edinburgh-based theatre company Vision Mechanics and the Nordland Visual Theatre.
Betty returned to Shetland to live on her croft for another 30 years as a folk hero celebrated in her local community.
The installation’s director, Symon Macintyre, said: “I have long been fascinated by stories of people who have survived against the odds in extreme situations. Betty Mouat was a survivor.
“My vision was not to tell her story but to explore her emotional journey, alone for nine days on a boat with very little food or water, unsure of her fate.”
The tour, which began in Fife, heads to Skaw Beach on Unst on July 10-13 and Laig Bay on Eigg on August 6-9.
