NEFA - The North East Folklore Archive

The Diary of Robert Walker of Richmond, 1815 - 1890

Diary Extracts Part 3 1878 - 1889

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1878. December 24th
Measles raging in Peterhead, fifteen children buried in one day.

Daily Free Press, Wednesday, December 25th, 1878:

Peterhead - The Saturday mails were brought from New Maud yesterday by two men who rode on horseback from Peterhead yesterday morning. The weather is still intensely cold but snow has ceased to fall. We have had no train since Saturday and are still secluded from the outer world.

Sir, I am surprised Aberdeen seems unable to cope with the present snow storm. All over the Continent cabs and 'buses are put on runners kept for the purpose. I mentioned this to a cab man the other day and he replied - "I wish we could get it done, sir." We are only at the beginning of winter and I don't think that even Aberdonian caution would find the above a losing thing. Once made, the runners are good for succeeding winters. As for the condition of the street pavements, I wonder the inhabitants don't pitch into the authorities. There are hundreds of idle men loafing at street corners cracking with the police.

 

1880. February 28th
"Hope" and "Windward" sailed.

The voyage of the "Hope" in 1880 was quite remarkable. . . .

ss "Hope" Leaving Peterhead North Harbour W. Hutton c1880 courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumIt was customary for qualifying medical students to spend the last year of their course as a ship's doctor. For that season Captain John Gray signed a young man from Edinburgh by the name of Arthur Conan-Doyle. Many who have studied the life and times of the author agree that it was his "Arctic Adventure" that would eventually persuade Doyle to leave the medical profession and take up the pen. His experience aboard the Hope is strongly reflected in such works as The Little Square Box and The Captain of the Pole Star.

In his memoirs Conan-Doyle wrote of his voyage: "I should have found it intolerable if the captain had been a bad fellow, but John Gray was a really splendid man, a grand seaman and a serious minded Scot, so that 'I found a comradeship which was never marred during our long tête-à-tête."

During his voyage Conan-Doyle fell into the sea no less than three times. The crew nicknamed the doctor "The Great Northern Diver."

Image: ss "Hope" Leaving Peterhead North Harbour
W. Hutton c1880 courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

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1880. September 4th
This has been the greatest herring fishing that has ever been in Peterhead.

Gutters at the Farlane. A Greenhill curing yard, Keith Inch, Peterhead c1900. Throughout the boom years of the 19th and early 20th century, the land based workforce - the "guttin' quines and cooper loons" played as vital a role in the industry's success as the fishermen did at sea. courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumThe East Aberdeenshire Observer, Tuesday 31st August 1880:

Peterhead: Such has been the success that generally at several of the ports the fishing is very nearly finished. The season's average now shows an increase of over 140 crans over that at the same time last year.
Fraserburgh: There is scarcely a boat fishing here this season but what has turned the hundred crans, and there are a large number who never had their compliments in their lives before. During the last week 38 cargoes of herrings have left for the Continent.

Daily Free Press, Monday September 6th 1880:

The season has had unprecedented success all along the coast and a most bountiful harvest of fish has been reaped from Arbroath to Lerwick.
Peterhead: 608 boats; total of 140,418 crans.
Fraserburgh: 780 boats; total of 195,413 crans.

The total for the Scottish herring fishing that season was an estimated 700,000 crans.

Image:Gutters at the Farlane. A Greenhill curing yard, Keith Inch, Peterhead c1900.
Throughout the boom years of the 19th and early 20th century, the land based workforce - the "guttin' quines and cooper loons" played as vital a role in the industry's success as the fishermen did at sea. Courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

 

1880. October 1st
Mrs Gray's new house on the Links slated, the old one in Jamaica Street sold.

The Links, 1880 - 1991, as it looked in the 1920sThe Links was built as a family home for Captain David Gray, his wife Amelia and their eleven children. Amelia Gray lived in the house for several years after Gray's death in 1883 before selling it to local fish curer John Sutherland, just after the First World War. Private donations helped the Town Council buy The Links from the Sutherland family and the house became the Cottage Hospital in 1938. The Links was demolished in 1991 to make way for the new Peterhead Health Centre.

The Links, 1880 - 1991, as it looked in the 1920s

 

1882. June 22nd
The Hope gone in search of the Eira.
1882. August 20th
Return of the Hope with Mr Smith and the crew of the Eira from Franz Josephs Land.

The crew of the rescue ship Ss "Hope" expedition leader Sir William Young in top hat courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumThe "Eira" a steam exploration yacht built by Stephen and Forbes, Peterhead, for Mr Leigh Smith, was on her second voyage to map the waters around Novya Zembla when she was crushed in the ice. The crew survived a severe Arctic winter living in a hut made from boat spars and eating mainly walrus meat.

The crew of the rescue ship Ss "Hope"
expedition leader Sir William Young in top hat. Courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

In June 1882 the "Hope" was commissioned by the Geographical Society to go in search of the stricken crewmen. The ship was prepared for a whole year at sea but after only two months the crew were found and returned to Peterhead amid great celebration.

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1883. March 17th
Heavy snow storm blowing hard N.E. The Mazinthien from Dundee to Greenland wrecked in Peterhead Bay.

The famous ship's career came to an end when she was storm blown onto the rocks in Peterhead Bay, only a few hours from home, on her way north.

A crewman from the stricken ss "Mazinthien" is hauled ashore. Peterhead Bay, March 17th, 1883. courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumIn response to the ship's distress flares the local Coast Guard Volunteers, under the supervision of a Mr Goode, managed to get a hawser over to the ship from shore using a "rocket firing device." The ship's crew improvised a cradle using ropes, blocks and planking and, though the operation took several hours, they were all brought ashore unharmed.

A crewman from the stricken ss "Mazinthien" is hauled ashore. Peterhead Bay, March 17th, 1883. Courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

The "Mazinthien" was a Canadian ship, built in New Brunswick and named in honour of a tribal chief. She first came to Peterhead in 1851 and was commanded by Capt. P. Burnett and later Capt. John Gray Jnr. Fitted with steam engines in 1866 she was sold to Dundee in 1873.

Walker's son John served as an officer aboard the Mazinthien in 1873.

 

1884. June 6th
Report by Commissioners in favour of Peterhead for a Harbour of Refuge.

The Harbour of Refuge In September 1858

The mighty Titan crane at work on the South Breakwater, early 1900s. courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumWalker first made mention of the Harbour of Refuge when he noted a visit to Peterhead from the Harbour Commissioners. The harbour board and maritime worthies of Peterhead eventually won over competition from a number of other towns, including Aberdeen, to be the site of a Harbour of Refuge for North Sea traffic. An act of Parliament was passed in 1886 authorising planners and builders to proceed with the mammoth task. With construction halts in both the first and second World Wars, the work was not completed until the late 1950s. To cut costs, it was decided that the labour should be undertaken by convicts and a prison was erected nearby for that purpose. Their work was carried out under armed guard, supervised by local masons and tradesmen.
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Image: The mighty Titan crane at work on the South Breakwater, early 1900s. Courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

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1888. September 3rd
The "Eclipse" from Greenland with 20 tons.

A Greenland Whale alongside the "Eclipse", Greenland Sea, 1888 courtesy Arbuthnot MuseumAlong with the oil the "Eclipse" brought home an invaluable cargo of photographs taken during the voyage. David Gray of the "Eclipse" took with him as a Captain's guest Australian traveller and photographer Walter Livingstone-Learmonth. During the voyage Learmonth took several photographs of the ship and her crew as they went about their daily routines. This unique photographic account of the whalers and their activities is kept by the Natural History Museum Library, London.

Image: A Greenland Whale alongside the "Eclipse", Greenland Sea, 1888. Courtesy Arbuthnot Museum

 

 

1889. December
John Died Portland Oregon, Dec. 1888.

The last entry in Robert Walker's Diary was this brief note of his son's death. A captain in the Merchant Navy, John died while his ship lay in Portland harbour.

In poor health, the diarist ceased to record his daily routines as 1889 came to a close. He died the following year.

 

 

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