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NEFA
1995.003.01 Transcription
P: Agnes Buchan
T: Packing herring barrels
S: Three
women worked at a barrel. 1000 herring per barrel. AB was at Cross
and Blackwell first, but others started at 14. That was all the
life many people knew. They would sing at the herring, mostly hymns,
even outdoors in the winter. They would work till 6 three nights
and till 9 three nights. AB was a packer. There was not much skill
in it, just speed.
NEFA
1995.003.02 Transcription
P: Agnes Buchan
T: Herring in the Second World War
S: There
was some home business in fresh (iced) herring during the war, but
the overseas salted fish markets were inaccessible. They would bring
Ullapool herring to Peterhead where they were kippered. Her husband
moved into fish curing after the war.
NEFA
1995.003.03 Transcription
P: Agnes Buchan
T: Peterhead fishing in the war
S: Peterhead fishermen tendered the fleet in Scapa Flow.
Some concientious objectors continued fishing. The North Sea was
heavily mined, so the boats went to Ullapool. AB wanted to go to
Yarmouth for gutting. She was also in the Orknies and Hartlepool.
Her father would be away all winter. There was a special, West coast,
cure for America. Freshin herring was putting ungutted fish into
barrels with salt.
NEFA
1995.003.04 Transcription
P: Agnes Buchan
T: Changing Peterhead fishing trade
S: Whitefish is the main trade now, but not before the
war. Still herring caught, but there are only a few boats licensed
now (Pelagic license). Pursenet boats catch mackerel and herring.
There are only a handful of families involved now. You can sell
your license (which was issued free) if you leave the trade. Many
fewer boats are catching twice as many fish. The crews hardly touch
the fish. The owners make most of the money, though the crews make
some. They travel around the coast for mackerel and herring.
NEFA
1995.003.05 Transcription
P: Agnes Buchan
T: Fresh fish in Peterhead
S: Mackerel
is iced and sent to the markets. The whitefish is landed in Peterhead,
filleted and frozen. Summertime, June, July, August, Peterhead used
to be seething with West coasters working in the fish trade. There
used to be special trains down to Yarmouth for the gutting. The
boats took a few days to get down to Yarmouth and would sometimes
fish along the way.
NEFA
1995.003.06 Transcription
P: Agnes
Buchan
T: Gutting in the old days
S: AB's
mother used to go to the gutting long ago. Everyone went out to
gut. The Queenie was a hive of industry and you had to stay and
gut till the fish was gone. There was an auction room where samples
were laid out and the buyers would bid. The skippers made an effort
to get in first. Sometimes there were too many fish and they were
dumped. Prices varied. There were a couple of big curers, but also
smaller ones. Herring was sometimes bought on spec. and if the prices
fell, the curer went bankrupt. There was no committment to the workers;
they were just hired and fired as needed. The morning after filling
a barrel, you would fill up the settled barrels before putting the
lids on. They would sit another week and then be topped up again.
NEFA
1995.003.07 Transcription
P: Agnes
Buchan
T: Shipping herring and collecting china
S: Inspectors
came to look and buy the herring and it was then shipped. They were
paid weekly, except the hourly barrel topping up pay (2 s. per hour).
They used to collect china from the places they worked. The travel
and freedom was some compensation for the hard work. It was like
a holiday apart from the 12 to 15 hours work a day. They got paid
at the end of the season. You signed on in Peterhead and then took
the train down.
NEFA
1995.003.08 Transcription
P: Agnes
Buchan
T: Trains to Yarmouth
S: AB
does not know of any photographs of gutting trains. The last two
years AB went, they went by bus (cheaper), which was not a good
journey. The trains were full of gutting quines and coopers. Two
crews stayed together (six women). Most women took their own knives
with them. [Husband and daughter arrive.]
NEFA
1995.003.09 Transcription
P: Agnes
Buchan
T: Life in the old days
S: Life
was so different in the old days, but it is very hard to compare
the two. When AB was young, everyone's whole family was involved
in the fishing.
NEFA
1995.003.10 Transcription
P: Agnes
and J. D. Buchan
T: Changing careers
S: After
the war, the diesel boats came in. JDB left the fishing during the
war and built up a curing business, but his mind was still on the
sea. Their son still fishes for whitefish. Pursenet licenses are
a closed shop. Buchans and Taits have most of the licenses. [GS
discusses what's behind the Peterhead maritime heritage centre.]
There was little else in the way of employment in Peterhead. There
were fishing people and there were townspeople. They never mixed.
In the early days, a townsperson could not do a fisherman's work.
NEFA
1995.003.11 Transcription
P: Agnes
and J. D. Buchan
T: Sma lines and great lines,
and changing fishing life
S: The small lines finished around the First World War.
The sma lines caught haddock, whiting, etc. The great lines caught
cod, ling, etc. The boats went further. The sma lines were baited
at home and then shot from smallish boats. The ripper boats did
not use bait, the fish were so plentiful. There are far fewer fish
today. Fishermen have no nets to mend today. A fisherman needed
to marry a fisher woman, so she would be able to mend his nets.
Summer fishing locally, down to Yarmouth in the autumn, then tied
up in the winter. The fishermen go to sea all year around now. Trawlers
from Aberdeen went all year round (ca. 1900). The boats go further
out now, and there is less manual labour. It is a different job
entirely. Scottish boats would not fish on a Sunday. [Level lowers.]
There was not gutting on Sunday either. Sundays they would relax
and recover.
NEFA
1995.003.12 Transcription
P: Agnes
and J. D. Buchan
T: Saturday and Sunday off and
the changing herring trade
S: They would go dancing on Saturday nights in Yarmouth.
They had their own church down there. Two crews were lodged together
(six people). English women did not gut; it was only considered
fit for Scottish girls. Special trains took the girls down south.
Many of the gutters went up to Shetland too. The boats started in
Lerwick (March/May), then down to Peterhead till September, then
in Yarmouth till the end of the year. They tried Falmouth, but that
was not successful. After the First World War, the Russian market
was gone and the herring declined. The Russian buyers would take
a bite from a herring to test it. A Russian's word was good. Many
of the curers went bankrupt; German Marks were useless.
NEFA
1995.003.13 Transcription
P: Agnes
and J. D. Buchan
T: Successful boats
S: Fishing
is on a bonanza now. A successful skipper will always win out. JD
never got much chance as the herring business was already up and
running when he came out of the service. The servicemen were promised
first chance, but were priced out of the market by the conscientious
objectors (many in Gamrie) who had made money throughout the war.
NEFA
1995.003.14-15 Transcription
P: Agnes and J. D. Buchan
T: Fisherfolk and superstitions
S: There's
more intermarrying now, as women do not need the skills they
used to. There are few women in the fishing trade (at sea, that
is). JD's father used to have a lot of superstitions: no whistling,
no speaking about caul iron (salmon), no minsters on or near the
boat, pigs were called sandy camels on board a boat. Some people
are still a little wary of saying on board, etc., though times have
changed. The minister's place was in the pulpit, not on the boats.
A missionary could go on board, but not a proper minister.
NEFA
1995.003.16 Transcription
P: Agnes and J. D. Buchan
T: Gutting and singing hymns
S: See
1995.004.01
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