Reaper to visit Argyll: Oban and Tobermory
published this on 4:20 pm, Saturday, 2nd May, 2009Events| News | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
| May 14, 2009 | to | May 16, 2009 |
Not the grim Reaper but a Fifie, this Reaper is the last remaining – and seaworthy – sailing Fifie herring drifter. She is visiting Oban and Tobermory as part of the Homecoming celebrations.
She will arrive in Oban on Thursday afternoon (14th), and will stay until 6pm on Friday 15th, when she sets sail for Tobermory.
Organisers have arranged for 120 children from local primary schools to visit the boat on Friday morning. Before going on board, they will be treated to a session of sea stories from a professional story teller in the Corran Halls.
Councillor Duncan MacIntyre, Argyll and Bute’s spokesperson for Transportation and Infrastructure, said Reaper’s visit to Oban and Tobermory was: ‘a fantastic opportunity which shouldn’t be missed. Reaper is a wonderful piece of Scotland’s maritime history’.
Reaper is a restored east coast sailing boat of a type specific to the east coast around Fife and which was in constant use from the 1850s until well into the 1900s, mainly in fishing for herring with drift nets.
Fifies varied in design detail but they all had straight vertical stems and sterns, long straight keels and wide beams. This configuration gave them stability at sea – and speed, since it enabled them to carry a lot of sail. The downside of the long keel, though, made them a nightmare to manoevre at close quarters, as inside small or busy harbours.
Sailing Fifies were two masted, with the masts placed well fore and aft to leave as much working space as possible in the middle of the boat.
Reaper was fully restored and is now part of the Historic Fleet, is managed by the Scottish Fisheries Museum. She was built at Sandhaven near Fraserburgh in 1902 as a two masted lugger, 70ft long with a dipping lug foresail and a standing lug mizzen.
First registered at Fraserburgh in 1902 (FR 958) she moved to Shetland and was registered at Lerwick in 1908 (LK 707) where she was very successful for many years at the summer herring fishing. In 1916 she had an engine fitted for the first time.
During the war she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and saw service in SE England. After the war she returned to fishing in Shetland.
In 1959 she was purchased by Zetland County Council for use as a ‘flit-boat’. Renamed ‘Shetlander’, she was used for carrying general cargoes and aggregates for road and pier building among the islands.
With the introduction of Ro-Ro ferries. Shetlander was retired in 1979 and was purchased by The Scottish Fisheries Museum.
During the following few years she was restored to her original appearance and renamed Reaper FR 958. Berthed in Anstruther close to the Museum and crewed and maintained by the volunteer members of the Museum’s Boats Club, she now makes guest and promotional appearance throughout Scotland and N.E. England where the public are invited aboard.
Reaper’s former fish hold has been set up as a museum to display the old fishing gear, clothing and equipment in common use in her heyday. Over the past 10 years, Reaper has been visited by over 176,000 people from 119 different countries.
She has also made many appearances in films and television, including the current BBC Coast programme.
Reaper is now on a tour to mark the Year of Homecoming, taking in some of the old herring ports in the Highlands and Islands.
Oban is her first port of call, before she heads to Tobermory and then on to Mallaig (May 18), Knoydart (May 19), Kyle of Lochalsh (May 20), Portree (May 21), Grimsay (May 23) and finally Stornoway (May 25).
The photograph – top – of theReaper under full sail, is by copyright holder Cactus Man and is reproduced here under the GNU Free Documentation licence.
Related Posts
The Latest News from ForArgyll delivered via email, weekly or daily. You know it makes sense!
Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping | | Print This Post
Loading...