 As a result of this attack , a 4 @-@ inch Mark III QF gun was erected on a promontory overlooking Village Bay , but it never saw action against the enemy . Of greater long @-@ term significance to the islanders were the introduction of regular contact with the outside world and the slow development of a money @-@ based economy . This made life easier for the St Kildans but also made them less self @-@ reliant . Both were factors in the evacuation of the island little more than a decade later . 
