Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-21
SCOTTISH FISHERMEN.
Those of New Haven, the East and
West Coasts and Other Places
DESCRIBED BY EDGAR WAKEMAN.
Home Surroundings and Superstitions of q
Peculiar Folk.
A LIFELONG BATTLE FOR EXISTENCE
rooERrsPoxpENcE OF THE p1spArcH.l

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPArcH.l
EpIxBURGH, SCOTLAND, May 81 have
been much among Scottish fishermen, both
in their homes ashore and in their cabins at
sea; and can never recall them save in pic
lures of vivid and colorful setting. Simul-
taneously ali these pictures seem to blend
in one.
There are the red roofs, the breezy shores,
the cleaning sands and the tossing spray of
Coldingham and North Berwick, around to
the south of the mouth of the Forth: the
snug town and harbor, the quaint old streets,
the luscious sh-dinners and the screaming
fshwives OF New Haven; the almost somber
silence ever brooding above the piers of
Buck Haven; the rocky walls, the steely
blue of the German Ocean, the awful storms
and the great, dingy, cherries fishing towns
of the east coast, from Aberdeen to Thurso;
the brown crags, the emerald slopings and
the shadowy, moanful fssures of the Shet-
land and Orkney shores, with their Dutch
and Morse color in faces and ways; the drear,
gray rocks and pufin-haunted crags of the
misty Herbrides, where the brave half
starved crotter-fsher battles all his life for
mere existence: and the low and sunny
shores OF the Solway where, at the very
threshold of Burns land by the songful
Nth, underneath the shadows of hoary
Criffel's rim, the roaring of the approaching
Solway tides tells the border fishwives to be
alert with their creels for their fisher hus-
bands coming.
A Realistic Pen Picture.
On the east and west, sea-walls of SUBJ
Unity, time -plowed friths, shore-reaches
of barrenness and desolation. Seagulls
hover and whirl and scream. Skeleton
craft bleach in storm and wind. Every
thing speaks of sea-rage, wrath and wreck.
On the north, lands and islands without
forests, split and serrated by the sea. Ire
mendous precipices everywhere. Shadowy
"hellyers" cut the sea-walls where the tide
is ever sobbing in its ebb and flow. Here
fishing station; there Grear hamlet. Yon-
der gravei!y beach, with fsh-curers and
their sOdden toll. Beyond, weird gio
with herd of drowsy seals turning their
shining sides to the low, red sun.
Over all, a filmy, dreamy presence; for
the suns rays in the best of weather filter
through wells of mist upon these shore-side
toilers all their simple, sluggerd lives
Through all, the cutting of sharp winds, the
driving of almost barbed rain, the splash
and swirl of salty, singing spray.
These are the physical features of the
picture Threading in and through it all
with a sturdy life and coloring are the
fisher men and fisher wives of Scotland. I
always see these men something after the
mold and figure of Dickens hero, Daniel
Peggotty; larger of frame may be; and in
the place of his aspect OF benignity and res
olution, a look in their faces of melancholy
and sternness, mingled with something
which for want of better term may be called
q brave and defiant dread
AS Brave as ANY People.
No braver folk live. Upon the decks of
their smacks, schooners or fiddle-shaped
"sixerms,' their hardihood and daring
upon the stormy German Ocean, among the
mist-hid dangers of the sounds and lochs of
the Hebrides, or when battling with the
fierce tides of the Orkney, shetland and
Faroe islands, often reach a positive
suhlimitv of heroism. But 1 believe a no
more restless, unhappy lot ever lived
ashore. |
This is on account of those strange, iron
framed, barb-tongued creatures who "own"
them; the irrepressible, tireless, fadeless
women, who, the moment they become
wives not only assume all functions of
management and command, but who store
and dole out every penny of the Scottish
fishers earnings to the last "baw bee;" who
transact all business; originate and assert
all homeside ethics; set the pace in matters
OF 'kiri" and religion; and whose tongues
from the dav of bridal to that of burial are
never silent and are ever more stingng than
the lash.
Generally speaking all east and north
coast fisher folk fare better in their homes
than those of the west coast, who chiefly
comprise the crOtter-fisher class, barring
the border fishermen of the southwest from
Aver around to Amman along the Firth of
CLYDE and on the Solway. The latter are
often cottiers, and have comfortable homes
with well-kept gardens and are altogether
the snuggest and happiest lot of all.
-Four Typical Glasses Described.
Four classes of Scottish fisher homes may
be cited as most tvpical-those of the New
haven folk, who find a never-faiiing market |
for their fish here in Edinburgh, as New |
haven is practically a continuation of the
City, east along the south bank of the Firth |
of Forth; of the east coast folk from Aber- |
deem north past Peterhead, Fraserburgh, |
Banf, Inverness and Wick: of the fishers of |
the Orkney. shetland and Farce Isles, and |
of the croiter-fshers of Skye, Lewis and |
Harris and of North and South Uist, in the |
HebrideS.
Here at Newhaven a long, narrow street, |
with the oldest of little old houses their |
street fronts almost hidden with ramshackle |
stairs, creels, fishing gear, grandames and |
lGssieS batting the lines runs parallel with |
the Forth. Into this, from the Landslide,
come scores of other short, narrow streets |
in every one of which the same mass of
fishing gear, women and children are found.
Here and there tiny old inns are hidden,
where the finest fish dinners in Britain are
served.
This principal street, called Main street,
is open to the harborside, furnishing lit
tie space in which all the business trans
actions of the Newhaven fishermen have
been carried on for the past 400 years. The
harbor itself is not large. Its each walled
side is but 800 feet long, and it has but one
little entrance. Often you will find it with
out a single mast silhouette between YOU
and the horizon line of the Fifeshlre hills.
Again upward of a hundred craft are rock
ing idly within the harbor walls.
CreeIs Carried by Head Straps
At these times the fish have been auc-
toned off and the fishwivcs, hundreds in
number, are away in all haste to supply the
tables Of Aud Reekie." Their creels or
fish baskets contain from 40 to so pounds
of fish. These are carried on their backs,
and are held in place by broad leather
straps about the forehead The women
have heen known to thus carry $50 pounds
on their backs into Edinburgh
Uncountable are the skirts they wear.
These fall just below the knees and two or
three OF the outer ones are gathered back
over the launches in voluminous puffs.
Stout woolen stockings, stout buckled shoes
and stout peajacket, complete the raiment;
save that the married women wear a hand
kerchlef or "muteh' cap upon their heads;
while the maiden fsh-wiyes 90 bare
headed.
While at their labors, every article of
4hoir dress save pan ond sboar ;e Of ooox.o |