Steadfast Boats and Fisher People

2010 | Business & Finance

ILLUSTRATED with 200 photographs, all of which were taken by the author, this evocative book reveals developments in fishing boats built to the requirements of mostly Scottish fishermen from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s. Fishermen traditionally regard their boats as individuals and discuss their merits and peculiarities in critical detail. It is this strong, independent spirit which makes the Scottish fleet so lively and colourful and rich in diversity and quality. Though shapely cruiser-sterned wooden-hulled boats remained the favourites of many, the introduction of the transom stern was a radical departure in design, and there was also a colossal demand for steel vessels in the below-80ft section of the fl eet. In fact the Scottish boats were so likeable that a number were built for owners in Ireland and the north-east of England too. Based on her original fieldwork, Gloria Wilson traces these changes and links them to the wider fishing industry in what was a turbulent era.

These were times of prosperity interspersed with downturns and sometimes tragedy, when several boats were lost at sea with all hands, and financial upheavals caused shipyard closures with half-built vessels left on their slipways. Steadfast Boats and Fisher-People celebrates the author's deep regard for the fishing communities and their boats, which represented such a unique way of life.

Gloria Wilson (Author)