port henderson : past & present - Royal Commission on the Ancient ...

this fishing industry, living in other villages in the Gairloch area).
Dixon wrote that the cod fishing was carried on until about 1877 by means of long lines with
baited hooks, the bait being mostly of mussels. Gathering and preparing of bait was traditionally the
work of women and children. The mussels had to be shelled by cracking them open with a short bladed
knife and then the meat had to be scooped out. After 1877 nets mostly displaced the baited lines.
Initially it had been felt that the use of nets would block off fish movement and the cod would move
elsewhere. The lines were entirely made by the people themselves, of horse-hair and hemp. Everyone
in the area grew a small plot of hemp and the women spun flax in order to make the lines and nets. The
hooks, fashioned from knitting needles, bent to the right shape and sharpened and barbed, were also
home-made, for Gairloch used to be self-contained and there was no need for anyone to go elsewhere
to buy fishing equipment.
Cod cost around three shillings in the 1930s. Although fishing improved after the first World
War because stocks had a chance to replenish themselves cod fishing ceased in the mid 1970s because
of lack of fish.
Lobsters and crabs
Lobster fishing was of significance in the 1880s because catching these crustaceans was a suitable
occupation for those men who were also crofters. Lobsters were caught close to the rocky coasts and
small boats could be used. Lobsters were caught in baited creels which acted as a trap. Lobsters entered
through the ‘eye’, a netted passage-way which was easier for ingress rather than for exit. Although
there were problems with trans<strong>port</strong>ing the catch from the West Coast of Scotland lobsters were an
im<strong>port</strong>ant luxury item in large towns and cities, including as far away as London.
Crabs, as well as lobsters, were also caught although there were few of these. In Salt in the Blood
by James Miller there is a quotation from Liz Duvill on page 93 who fished for crabs and lobsters with
her father, Alex Mackenzie, at Badachro in the mid 1950s. Then the price for crabs was poor and the
lobsters were sent to Billingsgate via Inverness. There was little local sale for lobsters except for the
hotels in the summertime. The Mackenzies had about 200 creels. Alex threw away any prawns which
he caught (although later prawn fishing became the main catch for much of the Scottish fishing fleet).
Fishing boats
At the Gairloch Heritage Museum there is the fishing boat, Ribhinn Bhoidheach or ‘Beautiful Maiden’,
built at Port Henderson in 1914.
This boat was built in the MacKenzies’ boat-yard on croft 12. The
final brother continued to build boats when he was over 90 years of age.
(The MacKenzies who were recorded as boat carpenters lived in croft 15
and rented croft 12). Ribhinn Bhoidheach was 14.8’ long with a breadth of
The 'Beautiful Maiden'
6.9’. She drew 3.0’ and had a registered tonnage of 1.75’. She was
20