page_title: Boddam, Aberdeenshire
section_title: Fishing
hierarchical_section_title: Boddam, Aberdeenshire / History / Fishing
context_page_description: Boddam is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is 29 miles north of Aberdeen and 3 miles south of Peterhead. The settlement of Stirling Village lies immediately to the west. Sea cliffs rise to 200 feet, south of the village: a coastal path leads along these to the Bullers of Buchan.
context_section_description: Like Peterhead, Boddam grew as a fishing town during the 18th century but until 1831, when the first of two harbours was constructed to the north of the lighthouse, boats had to be hauled onto shore by hand.
   
  A marine villa, known as the Earl's Lodge, was built in 1840 for George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen (later Prime Minister) and in 1842 he initiated construction of the second harbour situated next to the first, leading to a considerable increase in the local fishing industry and Registered Port status in 1845.
  By the mid-1840s the population of the expanded and improved village had grown to 526 inhabitants, with 22 haddock boats and 23 larger herring boats working from the harbour for the seasonal fisheries (March to July, and July to September respectively). 12 boats were employed during the winter months in the cod and white fisheries.
  Harbour widening followed in 1878, and by 1881 there were 200 drifters based at Boddam. However, in an ironic twist this very growth led to an inevitable decline as Peterhead lying just to the north benefited from the far greater harbour space available for the continually growing fishing fleet.
  On 4 October 1881 7 fisherman, including the skipper, William Walker, were lost on the "Alice" in the storm generally referred to as the Eyemouth Disaster. Their bodies were washed up in the Firth of Forth and they are buried together in Inveresk churchyard.
caption: Boddam Harbour with lobster pots
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S5600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S5600   Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:04:16 13:09:23", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "251", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1263", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5132", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:16 13:09:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:16 13:09:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "837/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "43/10", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "789/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4442", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4442", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1115"}