brought to practical perfection, the wrecks were, perhaps, quadruple to what they are at present, and with not one fourth of the vessels at sea: among the innumerable wrecks that have taken place at Scilly, the most remarkable is that of the Victory, a first-rate ship of war, commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, returning from a series of exploits, which continued adding to his reputation even when they failed of obtaining success. This ship, with two others of a smaller size, struck on the rocks of Scilly in the night following the 22d of October 1705, when between fifteen hundred and two thousand men are supposed to have perished; and there is a tradition of one man having escaped, and of his relating some anecdotes of obstinacy, and even of violence, on the part of the Admiral, discreditable to him as a man, and the immediate causes of the calamity; but these additions induce me entirely to disbelieve the whole tale.
The Scilly Islands are composed of granite, similar to that of the Land’s End district, and intersected by small lodes of tin, but not of a size sufficiently large to have produced at any period a quantity worthy of mercantile account.
The land does not rise into lofty hills, nor are the rocks on a scale of magnificence; and the people have been so much absorbed in trade and in intercourse with strangers from all nations, that they are without any legendary histories or peculiarity of manners.
Although St. Mary’s, Trescow, and St. Agnes’, St. Martin’s, Bryher, and Sampson, have alone permanent inhabitants, yet a great many more islands are dignified with specific names. Among these one rock is honoured with the appellation of Scilly; and this trifling circumstance has given rise to theories about changes and devastations by the sea, by earthquakes, &c. when the name has clearly been given in the same spirit as that which induced seamen to declare that the cord attached to the water bucket is the only rope belonging to a ship.
Alterations in the laws respecting Customs and Excise, with increased vigilance as well as greater activity, both at sea and on shore, have materially interfered with the most lucrative trade of these islanders. They are, however, tolerably well supported by their agriculture, which is said to afford more corn than they consume; by their fisheries, particularly of ling, which are exported after being pressed and dried almost without salt; and finally, by the resort of ships in great numbers when the wind happens to be in opposition to their intended voyages.
Doctor Borlase has written a separate treatise on the Scilly Islands, and described in it the scanty remains of their supposed Druidical antiquities.
At the time of the last census (in 1831) the population was as ascertained to be
| Statute Acres. | |||
| St. Mary’s | 1311 | said to measure | 1640 |
| Trescow | 470 | 880 | |
| St. Agnes’ | 289 | 390 | |
| St. Martin’s | 230 | 720 | |
| Bryher | 128 | 330 | |
| Sampson | 37 | 120 | |
| 2465 | 4080 | ||
| The small islands are estimated at | 150 | ||
| 4230 | |||
A recent benefit has been given to Scilly by the legislature, in respect to their police and to the administration of justice. The sole authority previously existing in the islands resided in a court possessing very limited power, and that undefined, so that no case of any magnitude could be acted on in any other way than by sending the parties over to the main land; an Act of Parliament has now enabled
the executive government to appoint magistrates who may act in Scilly, without qualification by the possession of freehold property, in as ample a manner as other justices of the peace may act for the county at large.