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faithful pd


faithful pd


    any body know colour of this boat,white ? light blue ?
    Built Girvan 1954 for George (Dide) Forman. Originally drift and seine net. Painted dark green .. wooden caisson. Walter Milne took her over when G Forman built Venture PD 72 at Irvins in '64. Pair trawling was becoming fashionable. Walter increased HP , fitted caisson (as in pic). Two tone hulls were the "in thing",  She changed to black bulwarks, and different shades of blue/turquoise etc on main hull, as I recall. Ended up in Ireland as Be Faithful.
    On a lighter vein, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon visited this vessel in PD when she opened the local maternity annexe early 60s. In the cabin, she asked how the crew managed to get into the small bunk openings. Skipper is reputed to have told her  " Oh, Your Highness, there's nivver a problem wi' gettin' INTO their bed. The problem is gettin' them OOT  o' their bed" !!! Anyone acquainted with the said skipper will know he had a unique way of emphasizing his point!!!

    baggywrinkle
    May 29 2011 07:24 AM
    I never kent that she had a visit fae royalty George..It looks affa like in that photie, that the boys are makin up the nets for the trip home, probably their last time at the drifts.The crew have their aprons on, and theyre nae reddin doon as they would normally be doing after landing,although they probably would not have to red up at all with the fact that that boat would not have had her original big open drift net hatch, which eliminated the need to red up to land. I see to that the trawl derrick is in place, complete with tackle, also the seine net coilers in place..
    Yes, Baden. A time of transition, and opportunity. Driftnet on its last legs, but seine net and trawl on up and up. I was at the harbour, at the top o' the steps of the bridge that opens to let the boats through to the inner harbour that day. Schoolbairns, in fact the whole town lined the streets to see Royalty! After she passed where I was standing, I ran ( could do that then!!)  to the harbour. Faithful was moored outside Irvins, a special stairway was leading aboard . Skipper and crew all lined up (dark breeks and high necked hame woven fisher ganseys) to be introduced to the Royals. Faithful was painted in her original colours, green topsides, red bottom, grained wooden caisson. Windermere 11, PD154 built Herdies PD 1956 for SK.Andra Reid, was lying opposite Caley shop, rigged for seine net, ropes on deck, needing a good paint. Think they did it to show a working boat as well as one spruced up for the occasion. The highlight of that day for me was the liferaft display. The late Sk. Jamesie Bruce and his crew, who'd been recently rescued after 20 hrs in an inflatable raft in the north Sea (Aug 1962) got into a similar raft (Dunlop Seafarer) in the South Harbour. For a boy of 14, this was a special day in Peterheid .. afternoon off school, seeing  Royalty, and a liferaft that appeared out of nowhere. Still remember seeing Daisy's crew clambering aboard raft. Very different from the real experience they must've had when their boat sank beneath them!!
    The real reason for her visit was the opening of the Maternity Annexe at Cottage Hospital. Prior to that, it was home birth, Ellon, or the Broch (and Peterheiders didna like being born in the Broch ... another subject altogether!!)