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Harpoon cannon or gun from Whaling ship 'Wildfire' of Dundee.  This object was taken back to Orkney by James Wilson of Graemsay, who had signed on the Truelove of Hull in 1866 aged fifteen. By this time whale numbers had been greatly reduced by overhunting, so they only caught one whale. The following year he joined the Dundee whaler, SS Wildfire, but things were no better, in fact it was a record low, with eleven ships catching only two whales. The next season, 1868, James signed back on the SS Wildfire, along with his brother William and his cousin, James Skinner. This year the hunting was better, but the conditions were worse. Six ships were trapped in the ice, expecting to be crushed to pieces at any moment. Eventually the ice let go its grip and the badly damaged ship managed to reach Disko Island, where it had to be abandoned. The three Graemsay men were taken onboard another ship bound for Shetland, where they had to make their own way home. But James Skinner was in full possession of that Orcadian mind-set of ‘that’ll come in handy someday’, and he took the harpoon cannon of the Wildfire on his shoulder and carried it back home to Graemsay where he used it as a boat mooring.