“Thieves Holm, where savage justice was meted out to offenders of old”
so wrote the ‘lady correspondent’ in the Dundee Advertiser in 1898.
The tides rush past the island so furiously that it would have been a difficult place to escape from. There is also a ‘Thieves Holm’ at the entrance to the harbour in Oslo, Norway (named Tjuvholmen) where thieves were executed.
Several ships have also grounded on Thieves Holm including the Aberdeen trawler ‘Macaw’ in 1937 and the St Rognvald in 1973, which was stuck here for almost two weeks as re-floating operations had to wait until the spring tides.
