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Reddin nets Silver Crest


Reddin nets Silver Crest

Taken by Peter Watt 1968



    Andra' May Buchan, Willie Beedie. snr.  Ian Tait, Davie Gauld, James Whyte.  Ian  was  lost  in  Nautilus  a  wee  while  efter  this  His  brother in law  Steven McNab  was  getting  a  purser  built  at  the  time,think  it  was  finished  aff  as  the Aquilla  that  Jim Slater  had, nae sure.

    billy summers
    Feb 26 2011 09:24 PM
    you have changed a lot since that photo was taken willie,only the fag still the same,stephen was building a seiner not purser,it was his last trip on nautilus before coming ashore for the launch when she was lost with all hands,a very sad day . jim slater took over the boat and made her into purser.at that time she was going to be well ahead of her time as a seiner,a pity none of them got to see it :coolsmiley:
    Nah Billy even the fags have gone , he stopped smoking jist efter he left Skye

    driftfisher
    Mar 03 2011 04:52 PM
    Silver Crest's crew "reddin' doon" the nets.
    As "Williemin" says, Stephen Macnab's new boat was being built as a Purser. He may have planned to seinenet out of the herring season, as the wooden purser Vigilant of Peterhead did on a couple of occasions and as Willie Tait did with his first purser, the Challenge, when she was new from the builders, but Stephen intended to go to the purse with her.

    billy summers
    Mar 06 2011 11:36 PM
    first time i ever heard that and i was offered berth aboard  her,stephen was good friend and ship mate on girl pat and father in ocean venture was one of the last to speak to stephen before he was lost :coolsmiley:
    Just noticed the aftmost lad spreading salt on the nets .. common practice, as heat would generate in the nets. Salt was the cure!

    driftfisher
    Mar 07 2011 10:06 PM
    Well spotted, "the saattin'," GeeBee; heat would generate in the nets if they were "fool" after a good shot and would not be shot again for a couple of nights, after the weekend.

    driftfisher
    Mar 10 2011 12:29 AM
    Spoke earlier today to Bill MacDonald, former foreman at J&G Forbes; he confirmed what "Williemin" and I thought, ie that Stephen MacNab's new boat was definitely being built as a Purser. Bill said that when the Nautilus was lost, the Dory, Triplex block and other items for the Purser were lying in the yard at Sandhaven. The new build was fitted with a stern thruster, and the makers of the thruster told the builders that, so far as they knew, this was the first thruster fitted to a wooden boat in Britain. After the loss of the Nautilus, Jim Slater and his brother-in-law, Derry Forbes, took over the newbuild and finished her as the Aquilla. Two similiar boats followed for Shetland, the Antares and the Zephyr. Stephen and his seine net crew were, of course tragically lost in the Nautilus; had he survived to skipper the new purser, he would have needed four or five extra crew, which would explain why he had offered BillySummers a berth in the new boat. Like BillySummers I knew Stephen fairly well; he was a year ahead of me at the North School. At the Broch Academy, his future brother-in-law, Ian Tait, and I were in the same year,(as was Councillor Ian Tait) and he, like Stephen was easy to get on with. Later he had I am sure, a share in the Nautilus with Stephen. When I first went to sea in november 1961 on the Gamrie "Watchful," with "Jeems Alec" Reid skipper, Stephen was "driver" on the Gamrie "Replenish," skippered by James West. In his later career at sea, Stephen, a go ahead fisherman, who had no "daddie's shoes" to step into, became a skipper by his own efforts, and, with the help of Ian and their crew in the Nautilus, did well. Without a doubt he would have proved a very successful Pelagic skipper, as the term nowadays is. But " the road of life" takes many turns.