Salmon have been fished around Scotland's coasts for hundreds of years and Largo Bay was once a prime site for this activity. Salmon begin their lives in fresh water before moving out to sea, but later return to their original rivers to spawn. Their predictable migration pattern coupled with more advanced traps meant that by the early nineteenth century salmon fishing had become a well-organised operation involving stake nets such as the one shown in the photograph above.
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The extract above from the Largo Parish section of the New Statistical Account of Scotland, recorded in 1837 by Reverend Robert Brown, states that a salmon stake-net fishery was started some years previously at "different stations". His report suggests that, while initially the enterprise was not financially viable, it had recently been resumed and was now more prosperous. The census of 1841 in Largo records five men who stated their occupation as 'salmon fisher'. Of those men, four resided at the Temple and the other at Viewforth, suggesting that the focus of the salmon fishing at the time was to the east of Lower Largo.

The shelving sandy beaches of Largo Bay suited the use of stake-nets. These systems are described in 'The Firth of Forth An Environmental History' by T.C. Smout and Mairi Stewart as follows:

"They consisted of rows of poles up to 800 yards long, erected between high- and low-water marks, fastened together with ropes from which curtains of nets were suspended; these were set at an angle to the shore so as to form leaders towards other enclosures of netting, or 'courts', with entrances designed to admit the salmon but so labyrinthine and protected by net bottoms and lids so that they could not find their way out again."

The fish court is emptied of fish at low tide. There were regulations about when the fishing could be carried out. A close season coincided with the salmon breeding season (mid-August to mid-February from 1824) and even during the fishing season there was a weekly close time, traditionally 24 hours from midnight on Saturday nights. At close times the nets had to be lifted. Many newspaper reports from the archives tell of incidences when salmon fishers failed to do this. Below is an example from the 19 October 1910 Leven Advertiser, where Alexander Simpson was unable to take in his nets due to stormy weather but was still fined.

​Occasionally, species other than salmon, such as seals and porpoises, found their way into the nets and this is also a feature of the newspaper archives. In 1874, for example, Largo salmon fisher, James Clark, caught a large porpoise and brought it alive to the annual horticultural event in Keil's Den to be exhibited.

The right to fish for salmon in Scotland - whether in the sea or in inland waters - is a heritable right (i.e. like land ownership it can be inherited). In the heyday of salmon fishing in Largo there were three salmon fisheries, one owned by Strathairly estate, one owned by Largo estate and one by Lundin estate, each let to an occupier who managed the salmon station. The tenant had the exclusive right to fish for salmon in the area of his fishery. The 'tack' or lease of a fishing tended to be auctioned annually. The unpredictability of the catch made it difficult for local fishermen to place large bids and this often resulted in larger-scale interests from outside the local area winning auctions.

As the next few blog posts will detail, operators from places such as Edinburgh and Montrose were among those taking on the Largo stations at various points in history. Tenants also often rented buildings in which to store their gear and were entitled to dry their nets on frames erected on the nearby shore. The painting below is a great example of a scene of nets drying - in this case at Lundin Salmon Fishings at Drummochy, by the Net House at Cellar Braes. More on this particular salmon fishing station in the next post.

Painting by James Riddel R.S.W. (1857-1928), entitled "Auld Reekie from Largo". Read more here.

Following on from the previous post about Largo House, the Eagle Gate Lodge and Major Makgill Crichton, the article above from the 4 September 1902 Leven Advertiser reports on an "exciting incident in the bay". Makgill Crichton had recently succeeded to the estates of Largo, Lathrisk, Monzie and Barelaw and his title was Lieutenant (the rank at which he had served in the 78th Royal Highlanders). Recently married, he owned a steam launch, named Shelda or Zelda (both names are used in the article). It was upon this vessel that he and his wife had arrived in Largo to take up residence earlier in 1902.

However, on 30 August 1902, while waiting off Largo Harbour for additional passengers, ahead of going on to a yachting regatta at Leven, the Shelda/Zelda had an accident. She caught the Ring Rock about 100 yards from the harbour and began to list. The vessel was unable to move for about an hour until the ebbing tide eased her off the rock. The Ring Rock was described as having "a conical apex and flat sides". The Shelda/Zelda survived the incident relatively unscathed, aside from some damage to cabin crockery. The photograph below shows a similar steam launch, the 40-feet Netta, captured in 1899 by Lady Henrietta Gilmour of Montrave (courtesy of the University of St Andrews Special Collection). 
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No doubt Shelda/Zelda was not the first, nor the last vessel, to fall foul of the Ring Rock. So, what was the Ring Rock? A clue to how it was used could come from another Ring Rock, at Portknockie in Moray. Their heritage leaflet tells of the Ring Rock "off the mouth of the harbour" which was "used to kedge off sailing boats when the wind was light or adverse". Another local leaflet further describes the named rocks at Portknockie shoreline - see below - telling of how their Ring Rock once had a ring embedded in it. In their example, "ropes were passed from the quay and through the ring and were used to pull sailboats from the harbour until the wind caught their sails". 

​"Kedging" or "warping" is a technique for manoeuvring engineless vessels in calm conditions, including in and out of tight harbours, to a point where their sails could better catch the wind, by hauling on a line attached to a kedge anchor, a sea anchor or a fixed object. Small boats might simply throw the anchor in the intended direction of progress and haul in after it settles, pulling the boat in that direction. Larger vessels could use a smaller boat to carry the anchor ahead, drop it and then haul. An alternative approach would appear to be to used a fixed point outside the harbour as part of this process. If you have more information about the use of Largo's Ring Rock, please leave a comment.
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Can you help match the names mentioned in the 1893 article to the boulders that we see on the beach today?  If you can - please comment. Likewise if you are aware of other named rocks not mentioned in the piece - such as the ​Punch and Judy rocks at the Temple, please comment, so that this very localised information (which tends not to be formally recorded) can be saved for future generations.
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A popular decorative object today, glass fishing floats once had a practical use out at sea. Largo fishermen were among those who at one time made use of floats made of glass. Although cork and canvas floats were also commonly used in the days before the widespread use of plastic, glass orbs in a protective net offered an alternative option.  Known to have been used from 1840s in Norway, glass fishing floats are believed to have come into use in the UK much later (certainly by circa 1910). 

Now highly collectable, experts in glass floats are trying to learn more about the floats used around Scotland. In Largo stories abound of old glass floats being found in lofts or in basements. Do you have some or a photo of an authentic fishing float used locally? If you have seen one, do you recall what colour and shape these were and what size? Do you know anything about how they were used (what type(s) of fishing) and what period of time they were in use?  Where might locally used glass floats have been manufactured? Do you know anything about the process of covering the float with rope? Was this a skill that an ancestor of yours had?

Any snippet of information, no matter how small, would be welcome in the quest to understand more about these interesting objects.  Please leave a comment or get in touch using the 'Contact' option if you can help.

When Largo had large deep sea fishing boats, these boats were made in boat building yards outside of the Parish. For example, the Ocean Bride (KY 4), was built by John Alexander Millar at West Anstruther in September 1882 for the Gillies brothers and David Ballingall's Forget-Me-Not (KY 2011) was built at Fulton's boatyard in Pittenweem the same year. The Osprey (KY 977) was built in Dysart and the British Queen (KY 1419) at Buckhaven. However, over the years many of Largo's smaller boats were made in Largo by local joiners and craftsmen. Below is a list of vessels known to have been built in Largo Parish. 

A more detailed list of the above boats, showing type, length, builder and year of build (where known) can be accessed as a PDF by clicking here. Note that most are ML registrations, rather than KY registrations. In 1904, a new regulation came into force that all new boats (and existing boats that chose to) could register in Methil rather than Kirkcaldy. The very first boat to do so was the Lizzie Cameron of St Monans, who became ML 1. Below is the report of her launch from 24 June 1904 East of Fife Record. Second was Sceptre of Cellardyke (ML 2), then Buckhaven's Thistle (ML 3 and ex-KY 622)). The first Largo-based boat to register at Methil was David Melville's Unity which was registered as ML 21 in 1905. By 1910, two hundred boats had been registered at Methil, one hundred of which had previously been KY boats.

Most of the vessels on the Largo-built list were probably built for Largo folk. For example, Lily (ML 56), was built in 1920 by Walter Horne for Alexander Simpson. Lily was a 1.16 tons sail boat (16.8 x 6.4 x 2.4 feet). However, some are known to have been built for people from other places. For example, in 1898, Thistle was built by Walter Horne for Alexander Thomson of Buckhaven. Thistle originally had the registration KY 468 but later became ML 70. All of the boats on the list (with the exception of the racing yachts) are under 20 feet in length reflecting the limited space in which their builders had to work.  Notable local boat builders were joiners Walter Horne and David Tait. Some vessels were also made by the Gillies brothers. 

The names of these local boats are predominantly female forenames - likely named after mothers, wives, sisters and daughters. The Marne was owned by Andrew Gillies of Goodsir House and was named after the battlefield where Tom Johnston of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders, won the Military Medal during the First World War. The Osprey was most likely named after the deep sea fishing boat Osprey (KY 977) - both vessels of that name being owned within the Gillies family. The Quaver and Semiquaver are also boats owned by the Gillies family but associated with racing rather than with fishing. Interestingly, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther have recently placed another Quaver from Largo on display. Pictured below is the yawl from their collection, apparently built for David Gillies, of Cardy House in the 1870s.

Do you have information about (or pictures of) any of the Largo-built boats listed above? Do you know of other boats made over the years in the Largo area? If so, please do get in touch and let's add to the list.
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The postcard image above (and detailed zoom) features the fishing boat Lily - registration KY 675. For a time, boats under 15 tons burden were marked with their registration numbers first, followed by the letter code of their port of registry, hence the marking 675 KY.  Lily was owned by David Gillies. There was no record of Lily in 1901 but she did appear on the on the 1914 register as a 1 tonne vessel - double the weight of David Gillies's other older boat, Violet (KY 289). All the boats registered to Largo in 1914 are shown in the table below.

Given that there was only one Lily on the above list, we can only assume that this was the same vessel involved in the 13 January 1916 disaster where two Largo men lost their lives. As the report from the 20 January 1916 Leven Advertiser below tells us, Lily was "struck by a sudden squall, capsizing the craft, which immediately sank". On this occasion, Lily was crewed by Thomas Melville and Robert Guthrie. They were one of five crews out on the day working the trammel nets. Such nets (shown in the image further below) were anchored to the sea bed. The accident was seen from the shore and several men hastily "manned a yawl and raced to the rescue" (among them owner of Lily, David Gillies). However, nothing could be done to save the men. The body of Robert Guthrie was recovered, while that of Thomas Melville was not.
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In a very sad coincidence, Thomas Melville was the son of David Melville who had died twenty years earlier in similar circumstances, fishing in Largo Bay. Below is the headstone they share (along with other family members) at Largo Cemetery. Note that the same wording is inscribed for both father and son: "accidentally drowned in Largo Bay". The loss of Melville and Guthrie was acutely felt both in Largo and the wider coastal district where they would sell their catches to local households. Robert Guthrie was a widower, aged 57 who left behind a family of three. He had close connections to Largo Baptist Church and in fact had just been appointed as church caretaker prior to the accident. Thomas Melville was 51 and left a wife and three children. At the time of his death, his eldest son James was in hospital having been seriously wounded while serving with the 9th Black Watch. James survived but Thomas Melville's younger brother Peter Melville was killed in action in 1917.
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​The above painting dates to 1878 and is by William Ewart Lockhart R.S.A.. It depicts Largo Harbour, full of fishing boats with their sails aloft. The reddish-brown colour of the sails is the result of the white fabric being treated (or barked) with tar to make them more weather-proof. Among the vessels in this scene could well be the Largo-based fishing boat British Queen, registration KY 1419. British Queen was built in early 1877 for David Melville. Melville was born around 1842 and married Elizabeth Ballingall in 1862. He would have been in his mid-thirties when British Queen was completed. Details of her completion and launch at Buckhaven are given below (22 March 1877 Fife Herald). The clinker boat was built at the yard of John Kinnear. At the time it was reportedly the largest boat ever built in Buckhaven.

A few months after the British Queen arrived at Largo, the incident below took place, affecting fellow fisherman David Gillies's boat. In a small insight to fishing boat maintenance, this story tells of a fire resulting from the practice of tarring a boat. On this occasion, disaster was averted by the speedy intervention of fellow fishermen. Before modern varnishes, various tar-based mixtures were used to protect the wood and ropes of fishing boats. Further below is an 1873 painting by Edouard Manet, depicting the tarring process.
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The 43-feet British Queen was listed in the Mariners' Almanacs of 1887 and 1889 as still being owned by David Melville. However, the 1895 almanac (see below) recorded a shift in ownership to David Gillies (the fisherman mentioned in the above incident). Tragically, on 24 February 1896, David Melville was drowned in a fishing accident, along with two others - his brother Thomas Melville and his brother-in-law, Thomas Ballingall. The three men were out line fishing in Largo Bay, about 3 miles from shore, in calm seas and little wind. Their 16 feet vessel was found bottom up by the crew of another boat (William and John Ballingall and John Gillies), who righted the upset boat.

The Ballingall/Gillies crew returned to Largo with the only body that could be found, that of Thomas Melville. Clergymen Reverend David Malloch and Reverend William Pulford broke the news to the affected families. David Melville, who was 53, left a family of eight (mostly grown up and including Alexander Kirk Melville). His widow Elizabeth died in September of the same year aged 51. Thomas Ballingall was 38 years old, while Thomas Melville was 40 (both men also had wives and families). The British Queen disappeared from official records shortly afterwards. If you know more about the British Queen or have a photograph of her, please do get in touch.

The photograph above shows the Railway Inn on the left and part of the viaduct on the right. In the foreground, next to a bend in the Keil Burn, is a fishing boat. This is the Clarewood, with the Methil registration ML 46. One of the smaller "second-class" boats, the Clarewood was 3.4 tons and just over 25 feet in length. The vessel had both a sail and a motor and was built in 1920 at Anstruther. The owners were brothers James and David Lawrie and David Melville.

James and David were both sons of well-known and long-lived Largo fisherman Thomas Lawrie and his wife Isabella Clunie. James Lawrie was born in 1878 and David in 1892. At the time of the 1921 census, shortly after procuring the Clarewood, James Lawrie was aged 42 and living in Downfield with his wife Davina (nee Hutton) and a cousin. At this point in time, Downfield contained seven households within the one building and was home to 23 people. Younger brother David Lawrie was aged 28 and lived at Bower House (now 90 Main Street, pictured below) with his wife Janet (nee Baillie). Bower House contained three households, with a total of twelve individuals. In another part of Bower House lived David Melville, aged 29. He lived with his mother Sophia, whose mother had been a Lawrie before marriage.
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Take a look at the three postcard images below. What do you notice?

Which features are common across the three and which are different?

Scroll below the photographs to learn more...

The first and oldest image is the one marked 'Cowie, Upper Largo and Lundin Links' in the lower right corner. This relates to Peter Cowie, the chemist and dates the postcard to circa 1905. It shows the Crusoe Hotel with its original roof style prior to the 1911 fire which resulted in extensive repair work including the creation of a new flat roof. This flat roof is evident in the second postcard scene. But close inspection of the second postcard, entitled 'Largo from Lundin Pier', shows that many elements of its scene are exactly the same as the first postcard - including the fishing boat tied up at the pier with the tall masts to the left of the hotel, the old footbridge in front of the viaduct, the people standing on the end of the pier and the two boats either side of them. 

The fishing boat rounding the pier end is KY 56, which is Fisher Lass. This was not a Largo boat but belonged to Andrew Taylor of Buckhaven. So striking was the image of Fisher Lass, that it was reused again in the third postcard scene. This final image dates to a time after the roof of the Crusoe Hotel had changed once again. The flat roof proved to be leaky and so a pitched roof replaced it in the mid 1930s. In this image you can also see the road bridge over the Keil burn. 

All the photographs were taken for Valentines of Dundee - the printing company that became Scotland's largest manufacturer of picture postcards. Valentines hired a team of photographers to travel the country capturing local views for postcards, which would then be sold directly to local newsagents, Post Offices and other businesses, such as Cowie the chemist. A team of travelling salespeople used catalogues to promote the images to every town and village. But, of course, local scenes did not remain unchanged over time. The addition of a new building, for example, would require a photographer to be dispatched to take new photos. Sometimes a new image would not be as appealing as the one it was replacing and so an amalgamation was created in an early form of image editing. 

You can see by careful studying of the pair of cropped images below, that the rowing boat and buildings to the right are the same, as is the railway bridge and the Belmont Hotel building beyond the roof of the Crusoe Hotel. However, the Crusoe Hotel with its new flat roof has been added to the version on the right-hand side. Some retouching has had to be done immediately above the flat roof to fill in the gaps left by the removal of the former chimney stacks. Some rework has also been done to the pier to disguise the join on this composite image.
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Central to the image above, with sail at half-mast, is KY 240 - Sultan. Owned by Thomas Lawrie (1853-1951), and 43 feet in length, mariners' almanacs show that KY 240 was active at least between 1887 and 1901. The photograph dates to before the 1894 construction of the footbridge over the railway line. The original Largo Station building can be seen in its elevated position in the background. There are several other boats in the harbour. The only other legible registration is KY 1837 - the middle of the three smaller boats to the left of the Sultan. This small boat is the Wilhelmina, belonging to David Ballingall. A wider-view photograph of this scene is shown below. Note the three smartly dressed gents standing at Cellar Braes close to the Net House (long before the construction of its raised sea wall). You can see how easy it would be to stumble into the water from here, particularly in the hours of darkness. Such an accident happened in 1935 to a Mr McNeil. He was visiting from Edinburgh and mistook the lights at Methil docks for the way back to his lodgings at Drummochy and fell over the edge onto the rocks below (while the tide was out). 

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KY 240 was not the only 'Sultan' to be based at Largo. The 1887 register shows both KY 240 and another Sultan with the registration KY 1427. The latter vessel, which likely predates KY 240, was owned by Alexander Gillies (1823-1898). He was a lifelong fisherman (and son of another fisherman, David Gillies). His mother was a Selcraig and so he was linked to Alexander Selkirk of Robinson Crusoe fame. The photograph below shows Alexander's Sultan in a scene dating to the 1880s. KY 1427 was out of register in 1888 and it appears to have been sold on and re-registered as A 503 on the Aberdeen register. Later this vessel was sold to a Stonehaven-based fisherman before finally being broken up in 1902. 

The name 'Sultan' was given to quite a number of vessels around the country over the decades - perhaps chosen because of its association with strength and power. Could the building of Largo's original Sultan have coincided with a news story of the time, such as the 1867 visit to the UK of the Ottoman Sultan or his subsequent death in 1876? There was famously a 'Turkish Fleet' of paddler steamers on the Clyde in the 1860s named the Sultan, Sultana and Viceroy. The name certainly seems to have been fashionable at the time. Repetition of local boat names was not uncommon. Could the newer Sultan have been viewed as a successor to the original? Was owner of the later Sultan, ​Thomas Lawrie (pictured below), a crew member on the original Sultan? If you know more about these two Largo fishing vessels and their owners, please leave a comment.
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Can you spot the boat hiding in the photograph above?  The image features the oldest of the buildings of Largo's former mill complex by the viaduct. The building with the brick chimney housed the gasworks, forge and cooperage. If you look closely at the trees on the left-hand side, obscured by foliage is the line fishing boat Jane, with its registration 940 KY just visible. For a short time, registrations of 2nd class boats such as this one were displayed with the port of registration after the number. The Jane belonged to William Ballingall who had a daughter named Jane born in 1869.

William Ballingall was born in Largo in 1847. He was already described as a fisherman in the census of 1861, aged fourteen years old, while living at the Temple. On 6 October 1867 he married Isabella Gillies, with Reverend David Malloch officiating. William was a fisherman and the fathers of both he and Isabella, John Ballingall and Alexander Gillies, were both also fishermen. Their daughter Jane was born in 1869, followed in 1873 by Margaret (who died aged 14 months), Annie in 1877 and Isabella in 1880 (who died aged ten months).

In June 1882, the couple had a son, John, however later the same year, Isabella died of tuberculosis, leaving William with three young children. Sadly, in 1883, aged just ten months, baby John died too. William was remarried in 1888 to Eliza Tivendale in Edinburgh. She was the daughter of Lundin Mill shoemaker Alexander Tivendale. The couple went on to have two sons, Alexander and William.

The fishing boat Jane appears on 'The Scottish Fishermen's Nautical Almanac and Tide Tables for 1889' but is absent from the 1901 edition. Willam did however have another vessel listed in the 1901 almanac, named the Tidy (KY 1830). Tidy was smaller than the Jane and may have been the boat in use when WIlliam, along with John Ballingall and John Gillies discovered a wrecked fishing boat in 1896. It was 24 February that year when a drowning accident took place in Largo Bay. The 28 February East of Fife Record below reported on how three Largo men (half-brothers David and Thomas Melville and David's brother-in-law Thomas Ballingall) had been line fishing in calm sea conditions in a 16-feet boat when tragedy had occurred.

William and John Ballingall who discovered the upset boat were cousins of Thomas Ballingall. They along with John Gillies had to provide evidence at the subsequent inquiry into drowning. William and his brother John had been fishing in Largo Bay on the day in question. Several boats were out including the one with the three men that lost their lives. William had observed them shooting their lines but later on his crew noticed a wrecked fishing boat and approached it. They drew in the mast and found the body of one of the men entangled in the ropes. The other two were missing. There was very little wind on the day and the witnesses could not account for the reason behind the accident.

William was still described as a Line Fisherman in the 1901 census and was living with Eliza and their two sons. ​Eliza died on 2 March 1911 and in the census of later the same year, William was a widower living on Lower Largo's Main Street (opposite the Crusoe Statue) with two sons, aged 19 and 14. Both William and his elder son were recorded as line fishermen. William died on 27 December 1923 aged 76, at his home on Main Street, Lower Largo. It seems likely that earlier in his life, William may have been among the crew members of one of the larger deep-sea fishing vessels, such as David Ballingall's Forget-Me-Not, which was crewed by family members with the surnames Ballingall, Gillies, Melville, Watson, Hutton and Wishart.
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