Portrait, Captain John Hourie
Oil painting - portrait of Captain John Hourie of Bremner & Co (South Isles ferry and freight service 1938-1961). Painted by Sylvia Foxlee (Dennison) titled 'Big John' and dated 1971.
Born in the Parish of Firth in 1897
A chance meeting in the Scottish Office, Edinburgh in the 1970s between Orkney’s Capt. John Hourie and American oil tycoon Dr Armand Hammer, brought oil to Flotta. Dr Hammer arrived by private jet and announced he wanted to build an oil terminal in Scotland and was looking for a safe, deep anchorage. Luckily Capt. Hourie happened to be in the building on business. He was summoned by the Secretary of State for Scotland and was soon invited by Dr Hammer to fly up to Orkney. They circled Scapa Flow, where Capt. Hourie pointed out Flotta as an ideal site for Hammer’s new oil terminal.
