Caledonian Canal Fishing Boats

[magpie patrick]

From the same WW as mentioned just now on another thread - there is an article on the Caledonian Canal. It makes the oft repeated claim that a major user of the canal was fishing boats. A similar claim is made in other sources in respect of the Forth and Clyde before closure. I'm not going to dispute this claim as the magazine has a picture of three fishing boats (small commercial trawlers, not leisure boats) sharing the locks at Banavie (I also remember as a teenager seeing one go down Clachnaharry Town Lock in Inverness) but not for the first time I wondered "why?"

 

Normally fishing boats are based in a port where they can reach the fish, they may travel a long way once they have set out, but being based on he wrong side of Scotland seems a little excessive.

[LadyG]

The Shoals of Herring is a great sea shanty

See the song recorded by Ewan MaColl with photos. These were hunters, scenting the herring, or sighting them where the gulls indicated.

Ardrshaig, where the Crinan canal meets the sea loch was not a place to anchor off, so hundreds of boats gathered in Tarbert, a natural harbour, where they could be safe, and the herring off-loaded.

In the days long gone The Herring (Silver Darlings) moved about, and the boats, had to follow them, the herring were generally pickled in barrels to preserve them, so the fishwives had to follow the boats and were essential, as the fish had to be landed ASAP, beheaded and gutted.

Some fish were split, gutted and hung in smokehouses to kipper. The Inner and outer Hebrides and all the fishing ports from Yarmouth right round the coast were set up to cope with what must have been an invasion of fisherfolk.

Dundee of course was Jute, and Marmalade, there was a big trade in rope, hemp, manilla etc., canvas for sail. Fishing boats from Breton often came up with the herring to Dundee and vice versa.

My first cruise of the Inner Hebrides was in Kittiwake, a 19 footer, with no mod cons, we bought a box of kippers  in Tarbert, Loch Fyne, put them in the bilge, and they kept us going for two weeks, we also had Scott's Porridge oats, and bought a can of milk from nearby farms.... no marinas in those days, I was 19 years old. It was quite an adventure. 

I will never forget Mallaig, was it 1962? We were, of course the only sailing yacht, the place had a big smokery, so all the boats brought their catch for unloading, it was absolutely thick with piscine remains, there was ten foot of herring on top of the seabed, and things were not much better ashore. Good things about Mallaig? Free cod and species unknown. Fresh bread, and other provisions daily from Glasgow.

Recommendations, visit Mallaig just once.

Edited January 15, 2021 by LadyG

[magpie patrick]

Thank you @LadyG that's a wonderful answer, made even more so by the folk song reference! If I understand this correctly, fishing boats not only migrated their fishing grounds but their landing place too, which did puzzle me as clearly they weren't going to bring the catch back through the Caledonian Canal! So much more detail in there as well. 

 

Your recommendation is noted - I intend to. Would be wonderful to visit Mallaig by boat, but that might be asking a bit much  

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

Thank you @LadyG that's a wonderful answer, made even more so by the folk song reference! If I understand this correctly, fishing boats not only migrated their fishing grounds but their landing place too, which did puzzle me as clearly they weren't going to bring the catch back through the Caledonian Canal! So much more detail in there as well. 

 

Your recommendation is noted - I intend to. Would be wonderful to visit Mallaig by boat, but that might be asking a bit much  

I suspect that Mallaig will now have pontoons, and you would have to pay. In those days there was a rough road, a rail link, a pub, and a huge industrial smokehouse,

Nowadays, herring are far and few, technology ie fishfinders, plus, fishing boats of industrial size with all processing facilities onboard..

Yes the early fishermen were real water gypsies, they worked out their tides depending on home port eg Newlyn., maybe Oban

Even the Buses worked on GMT, we found this out when we tried to do crew change, the outgoing crew missed the bus, and the incoming crew arrived an hour early: David MacBrayne.

Edited January 15, 2021 by LadyG

[Mike Todd]

Down here in north Cornwall most of the small fishing ports (This Port Isaac - Doc Martin) were famous for their pilchard fishing with the evidence of the processing sheds still visible in several places. The key indicator is the row of brick holes in the outsider wall which held the fulcrum of poles that were used to apply weight to the top of the barrels into which the fish were packed. The Southern Railway line came from Waterloo and terminated at Padstow and freight trains could run right down to the breakwater so that catch could be loaded straight into wagons for rapid transit to Billingsgate. This was still happening in my lifetime (just!)

 

The main reason for making this post is to mention that most of these ports also had their lookout posts high on the cliffs above the harbour. Typically, Cornish ports are set in the entrance of narrow and steep valleys.

 

The lookouts were often called Huers or Hewers and the most well known of the remaining huts is in Newquay - see here

 

This shows just how close inshore the fishing took place - the huers were able to direct boats from signs of where a shoal was, as they moved about quite a bit.

[Iain_S]

On 14/01/2021 at 20:15, magpie patrick said:

From the same WW as mentioned just now on another thread - there is an article on the Caledonian Canal. It makes the oft repeated claim that a major user of the canal was fishing boats. A similar claim is made in other sources in respect of the Forth and Clyde before closure. I'm not going to dispute this claim as the magazine has a picture of three fishing boats (small commercial trawlers, not leisure boats) sharing the locks at Banavie (I also remember as a teenager seeing one go down Clachnaharry Town Lock in Inverness) but not for the first time I wondered "why?"

 

Normally fishing boats are based in a port where they can reach the fish, they may travel a long way once they have set out, but being based on he wrong side of Scotland seems a little excessive.

Prior to the closure of the Forth and Clyde, practically its only use was by fishing boats. Many Forth based boats would go to the West Coast, mainly for herring, which are migratory. During the re-opening cruise, one of the crew of White Wing (33' lugsailed "Baldie") remarked that it was the first time he had been in the pub during the passage, which used to take them about 36 hours. He also said that it was best to be about the 10th boat through, as the ones before would have carved a channel through the silt.

[Tim Lewis]

14 hours ago, Iain_S said:

Prior to the closure of the Forth and Clyde, practically its only use was by fishing boats. Many Forth based boats would go to the West Coast, mainly for herring, which are migratory. During the re-opening cruise, one of the crew of White Wing (33' lugsailed "Baldie") remarked that it was the first time he had been in the pub during the passage, which used to take them about 36 hours. He also said that it was best to be about the 10th boat through, as the ones before would have carved a channel through the silt.

 

A good BBC article from the last days of the Forth & Clyde Canal

Forth and Clyde canal - BBC Archive

[Waterway2go]

17 hours ago, Iain_S said:

Prior to the closure of the Forth and Clyde, practically its only use was by fishing boats. Many Forth based boats would go to the West Coast, mainly for herring, which are migratory. During the re-opening cruise, one of the crew of White Wing (33' lugsailed "Baldie") remarked that it was the first time he had been in the pub during the passage, which used to take them about 36 hours. He also said that it was best to be about the 10th boat through, as the ones before would have carved a channel through the silt.

A couple of photos of the boat that Iain referred to "White Wing" from the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther.  She is seen here at a later event in Kirkintilloch -the skipper insisted on having a shot on the horse that had been towing them

[haggis]

We travelled back from the reopening of the Forth and Clyde canal with White Wing and what a great crowd they were! I remember sitting on the wall outside a pub in kirkintilloch passing round a very nice malt. I think it was someone's birthday !

 

Haggis

[Dr Bob]

Between 2005 and 2008 we did the trip up/down the Cally canal 3 times (once each year) when taking our 40ft yacht from the east coast to west coat and back (the other leg was round the top - Orkney).....anywho....on each trip we chased a fishing boat through most of the locks/bridges. All 3 were moving their boats from coast to coast. I can quite understand when they say a large number of the boats going from end to end are fishing boats.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

Between 2005 and 2008 we did the trip up/down the Cally canal 3 times (once each year) when taking our 40ft yacht from the east coast to west coat and back (the other leg was round the top - Orkney).....anywho....on each trip we chased a fishing boat through most of the locks/bridges. All 3 were moving their boats from coast to coast. I can quite understand when they say a large number of the boats going from end to end are fishing boats.

We went thru. with several in 2013.

 

 

[Waterway2go]

Sadly the traffic in fishing boats has collapsed this year.  The Caledonian Canal only re-opened in July after lockdown and delayed repair works, with reduced depth.  In a report for the IWA navigation committee it was noted that through August and September only 9 commercial transits were made. These include 1 naval, 1 RNLI, 1 new-build passenger boat on delivery, and 6 workboats or crew transfer vessels – usually employed on North Sea oil and gas work.  Most unusually no fishing boats were spotted in that time, although one was seen at the start of October. 

[magpie patrick]

Thanks for all the anecdotes and extra information - fascinating stuff!

 

I had wondered whether fishing boats, like every other commercial vessel, were getting too big to make the passage -

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

Thanks for all the anecdotes and extra information - fascinating stuff!

 

I had wondered whether fishing boats, like every other commercial vessel, were getting too big to make the passage -

Many fishing boats meet the 'under 10 metres' licence conditions which have much reduced regulations compared to 'over 10 metres', next band is 12 metres and then above 15 metres.

Keeping 'under' each category is quite a 'big thing'.

 

There are even special sales sites for boats 'under' each category

 

Commercial Fishing Boats For Sale - Under 8m | Find A Fishing Boat

 

Commercial Fishing Boats For Sale - 8-10m | Find A Fishing Boat

 

Commercial Fishing Boats For Sale - 10-12m | Find A Fishing Boat

 

Commercial Fishing Boats For Sale - 12-15m | Find A Fishing Boat

 

Commercial Fishing Boats For Sale - Over 15m | Find A Fishing Boat

 

 

Maximum dimensions on the Caledonian are :

Length 150ft

Beam 35 ft

Draft  13.5ft

Air Draft 115 ft

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Alan de Enfield