old print

[islandgun]

Came across this old print, its Stornoway  harbour Isle of Lewis, I imagine taken in the 1930's ish. foreground Cod, middle Halibut , these would have been caught on a longline in deep water of the minch, judging by the swim bladders. then shipped off by ferry and train to England, Probably MacFisheries 

 

[Walker570]

Great picture.

[islandgun]

45 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Great picture.

One thing that amused me was the Lewis coffee house on the left. seems coffee wasn't invented 5 yrs ago

[Walker570]

I remember the smell from almost my first days back home after birth.  10 am was coffee break time in the farm house kitchen and my grandmother had a big perculator which facinated me as it bubbled and burped on the gas stove.  She had the coffee ground at Altons Grocery Store in Tamworth which as I have said before was an experience for the senses.

Our back door was never locked back then in the 40s and 50s and a variety of people would appear for a cup from local vicar to two local Bobbies as we sat on the boundary of two police village areas.  Cattle food salesment always seemed to know when to call.   MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm !! I can smell it now.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Walker570

[islandgun]

2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I remember the smell from almost my first days back home after birth.  10 am was coffee break time in the farm house kitchen and my grandmother had a big perculator which facinated me as it bubbled and burped on the gas stove.  She had the coffee ground at Altons Grocery Store in Tamworth which as I have said before was an experience for the senses.

Our back door was never locked back then in the 40s and 50s and a variety of people would appear for a cup from local vicar to two local Bobbies as we sat on the boundary of two police village areas.  Cattle food salesment always seemed to know when to call.   MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm !! I can smell it now.

Sounds a fantastic time to grow up. bet you cant smell that smell now without being taken back to then.. I well remember a coffee shop in my home town in the 60's that had a large roaster and grinder working most days, cant say it was a nice aroma though

[islandgun]

18 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I remember the smell from almost my first days back home after birth.  10 am was coffee break time in the farm house kitchen and my grandmother had a big perculator which facinated me as it bubbled and burped on the gas stove.  She had the coffee ground at Altons Grocery Store in Tamworth which as I have said before was an experience for the senses.

Our back door was never locked back then in the 40s and 50s and a variety of people would appear for a cup from local vicar to two local Bobbies as we sat on the boundary of two police village areas.  Cattle food salesment always seemed to know when to call.   MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm !! I can smell it now.

Googled the coffee house and its date was 1878 -1911 so i was well out with my guesswork. the coffee house followed other places [Liverpool, Glasgow,]  and were started to try and get seamen off the drink

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, i do like these old photos that show our bygone days, 

[Walker570]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i do like these old photos that show our bygone days, 

[islandgun]

2 hours ago, islandgun said:

Googled the coffee house and its date was 1878 -1911 so i was well out with my guesswork. the coffee house followed other places [Liverpool, Glasgow,]  and were started to try and get seamen off the drink

Ironically the coffee house is now a pub..☺️ 

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i do like these old photos that show our bygone days, 

Agreed,  It would be good if anyone else had some byegone photos to share

[oldypigeonpopper]

3 hours ago, islandgun said:

Ironically the coffee house is now a pub..☺️ 

Agreed,  It would be good if anyone else had some byegone photos to share

hello, would be nice to see a photo taken now to compare the difference ? i did have a framed very old front page of the Times showing HMS Hood now in the Chatham Dockyard museum, 

[islandgun]

27 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, would be nice to see a photo taken now to compare the difference ? i did have a framed very old front page of the Times showing HMS Hood now in the Chatham Dockyard museum, 

will do but its not much different just now theres a row of cars by the coffee shop and of course not one single cod

[marsh man]

Brilliant photo of yesteryear, something we are never likely to see again .

That reminded me a bit of when the Herring industry was in it's heyday down here in Yarmouth in the late 50s and early 60s , I had a soft spot for the Scotsmen who used to come down early October and stay till around Christmas , the Drifters were mainly from FR ( Fraserburgh , BF  ( Banff ) PD ( Peterhead ) BK ( Bukie ) and maybe one or two more ports in Scotland .

My highlight was going down the fish wharf on a Saturday morning and climbing onto one of the Drifters that had just got in to unload it's catch of Herring , known locally as the Silver Darlings , the chaps down the hold would have a large scoop and two of them would fill the basket up  to be winched up and put on the quayside , it took four baskets to make one cran and sometimes after a good catch there would be hundreds stacked up that were then carted off for the Scotch fisher girls to clean and gut them .

The reason why I was watching the chaps unloading the fish was to see if I could spot a Mackerel , once I saw one I would point it out and one of the blokes would chuck it up and I would open it's quills and thread it on a piece of string to be either eaten or sold as fishing bait to the village pubs fishing club .

When the catch was all landed on the quay the Scots boats would sail up the river to moor for the weekend as they would never sail out to sea on a Sunday , unlike the Yarmouth ones who would sail out any day of the week ,  another one of my highlights was to sail up the river with them as I lived not far from where they moored up near the Town hall , 

Very happy days and the Scots fisher folk were the salt of the earth , truly lovely people .

[greenshank1]

Hi Marshman 

this is an old herring drifter on the shore close to where I live .

 

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, greenshank1 said:

Hi Marshman 

this is an old herring drifter on the shore close to where I live .

 

Hi Greenshank ..... THANKS for sharing , the poor ole boat look in a sorry state now but in it's prime it could have sailed down the East coast to join the rest of the fleet of Drifters for the Autumn fishing , I have seen photos where when they were moored for the weekend up the river they very nearly touched each other in the middle and they were moored more than ten abreast against each other from both sides of the river , then by mid Monday morning they were all back out to sea casting there nets , another happy sight was seeing the fisher girls coming down the road arm in arm and always laughing , they were nearly all thick set ( in the nicest possible way ) and had arms stronger than most men , you could always tell they were fisher girls as most of there fingers had plasters on them and turbans on there heads ..

[greenshank1]

I read that here on the west coast , with it being pre sonar and pre fish finders , that they used to use a weight on piano wire and a guy laying on the deck at the bow felt the vibrations as they passed through a shoal and depending on the vibrations he decided on the size and depth of the shoal and whether it was worth shooting the net or not. 

Apparently they had problems with basking sharks and they believed once a shark had been caught in the net the slime off the shark made the net useless as it become a deterrent to the herring and they avoided . 

Tex Geddes mentions it in his book Hebridean Sharker .

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, greenshank1 said:

I read that here on the west coast , with it being pre sonar and pre fish finders , that they used to use a weight on piano wire and a guy laying on the deck at the bow felt the vibrations as they passed through a shoal and depending on the vibrations he decided on the size and depth of the shoal and whether it was worth shooting the net or not. 

Apparently they had problems with basking sharks and they believed once a shark had been caught in the net the slime off the shark made the net useless as it become a deterrent to the herring and they avoided . 

Tex Geddes mentions it in his book Hebridean Sharker .

On this forum you never stop learning and you learn something new each day , thanks for that , something I have never heard of , my grandfather was a cook on the Yarmouth drifters which were mainly made of steel and not wood , I am sure he used to say the amount of Seagulls diving into the water would let the skipper know how big the shoal was , how they could tell at night I couldn't tell you , although they might have had a type of echo sounder .

He also had in his front room a stuffed Gannet in a glass case with a sea scene in the back ground ,  that was caught in the nets while diving for the Herring  , 

[islandgun]

There you go MM. Scottish Herring girls in Yarmouth. I did a stint on a Lowestoft sidewinder as a Teen {also pictured} 10 days at sea with two days off [ in the pub ] We get two runs of Herring here, one in the summer and one in the winter. Herring in oatmeal is still a valued food. As an aside my old neighbour  showed me how they did the herring when she was a girl, they twisted off the head and pulled out the guts in one move, This would explain the plasters on the fingers also the herring were dressed in salt.. hardy women

Edited July 29, 2019 by islandgun

[islandgun]

19 hours ago, greenshank1 said:

I read that here on the west coast , with it being pre sonar and pre fish finders , that they used to use a weight on piano wire and a guy laying on the deck at the bow felt the vibrations as they passed through a shoal and depending on the vibrations he decided on the size and depth of the shoal and whether it was worth shooting the net or not. 

Apparently they had problems with basking sharks and they believed once a shark had been caught in the net the slime off the shark made the net useless as it become a deterrent to the herring and they avoided . 

Tex Geddes mentions it in his book Hebridean Sharker .

Im not questioning Tex geddes, but Im wondering why a Basking shark smell would put off Herring as they are both Plankton eaters

[greenshank1]

I am not sure it was just the smell that caused problems  , I think the basking sharks caught in a herring net caused quite a bit of damage to all the gear and maybe after , the net didn't fish the same . After it had been entangled by the basking shark reckon it would take quite  bit of repairs ?? 

 

[islandgun]

12 minutes ago, greenshank1 said:

I am not sure it was just the smell that caused problems  , I think the basking sharks caught in a herring net caused quite a bit of damage to all the gear and maybe after , the net didn't fish the same . After it had been entangled by the basking shark reckon it would take quite  bit of repairs ?? 

 

True

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, most Thusdays i go to the Oxford Market, a array of second hand antiques bric a brac and junk, when i see any old photos or Albums i cannot RESIST, 

[old'un]

Talking about old pictures, I have this one of my granddads company RFA, 1WW,

Been trying to work out where it is from the style of the building, anyone good at placing buildings?

[islandgun]

Cant help with the building, France I guess. seemed to have gone through a few changes, bricked up doors and windows. saw this pic of some fire power. a range of 12,300 yds, perhaps something your granddad might have pulled the trigger on !  might make your ears ring