Where is Balta Sound?

Balta Sound is in Scottish Islands, in the United Kingdom — coordinates 60.7550°, -0.8400°.

Islands · Scottish Islands

Balta Sound

Balta Sound in Orkney + Shetland, United Kingdom.

Plan your visit

Typical visit: 4 h–12 h

Balta Sound is a place of interest in Orkney + Shetland, United Kingdom — drawn from open-data sources for visitor reference. See the linked Wikipedia article for the full description.

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From the Wikipedia article

Balta Sound is a sound (inlet) on the east coast of the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The sound is sheltered from the North Sea to the east by the uninhabited island of Balta. The sound is subject to daily tides. The settlement at the west of the sound is Baltasound taking its name from the sound. On the land to the south of the Sound is Unst Airport.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

In the 19th and early 20th century, Chromate of iron was mined on the north side of Balta Sound and taken away in ships via the Sound to Leith and Bo'ness. In 1894, Balta sound was described as "altogether about 2 miles long and half a mile wide." On 12 March 1917, the World War I British E-class submarine was heading out of Balta Sound on patrol when it struck a naval mine laid by German U-boat . It was sunk in the channel between the islands of Huney and Balta with the loss of the entire crew. The site of the wreck is now designated as a war grave. There is a memorial at Hamar, near Baltasound.

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.