1877
On Friday morning a distressing accident occurred in Cellardyke, in the case of a little girl of 2 ½ years of age, the grandchild of George Anderson, farm servant, who was at play with another child of the household when her flying skirts, it is said, led to the overturning of a pot of boiling water which a minute before had been lifted down onto the hearthstone. The poor innocent fell into the scalding stream, and so terrible were the consequences that after lingering intense and hopeless agony she was mercifully released by the sleep of death within twenty four hours after the deplorable event.
1878
DR Phin on Cellardyke fishermen, at the opening of a bazaar at Anstruther, for the establishment of a new church at Cellardyke, The Rev, Dr Phin, who received a cordial greeting said – I am very much gratified by the remarks which have been made by my excellent friend Professor Christie, and it gives me extreme pleasure to be here today in compliance with his request. I may mention that my recollections of Cellardyke are not of yesterday. In my early life I lived in the house of my father, who was minister of Wick, and as far back as my memory stretches Cellardyke fishermen were ion the habit of coming down to Wick to prosecute the herring fishery. I recollect of their attendance at my father’s church, and I have pleasure in mentioning the good conduct they displayed in the midst of other fishermen.
Montrose
The fishing of the great line boats was almost a failure owing to a want of herring for bait. Two however succeeded in getting bait and had fair shots, A Cellardyke boat arrived yesterday with cod ling, and halibut and 1- crans of herring, which realised £30.
Arbroath
A Cellardyke boat arrived here yesterday with a very large take from the deep sea fishing, consisting of halibut, skate, ling and cod. The boat on its arrival at the fishing ground met with a large shoal of herring, six crans of which were bought in here. The cargo was sold to Mr John Noble, fish dealer for £21. This is the first arrival from the deep sea fishing this season.
Stonehaven
One Cellardyke boat put into Crawton and sold a shot of big fish &c to the Messrs Melvin for £29, the weather is squally with showers
(Crawton is three miles south of Stonehaven, The ruins of 23 houses and a school are all that survive of the coastal hamlet on the clifftop. In its heyday, 30 Crawton men fished 12 boats and the village had its own fish merchant. Following nearly 50 years of decline due to overfishing, Crawton was finally deserted by its last inhabitant in 1927)
Tuesday being observed in Cellardyke as the Queen’s birthday, Mr Thomas Thomson, Superintendent of the Forth Street, boot and shoe establishment in Cellardyke, accompanied by his son and eldest daughter, named Lizzie, some six years and a half old, went by rail to Edinburgh. The little excursionists were enthusiastic over the fair coast side. The day was beautiful and everything seemed to conduce to fill the party with delight, when just as the train was rushing away from Thornton Station the door of the carriage on which the little girl was leaning in her innocent glee flew open, and almost on the instant, to the indescribable terror of the passengers, she was cast headlong on the rails. The fate of the child appeared to be sealed. An express train was dashing up to crush the last wild hope of safety, and the distracted father in the agony of the moment was struggling to leap on the fatal brink also, when the approaching train was arrested in full career, as quickly as a master hand could curb a well-trained steed, and almost in the breath the gallant engineman placed the little martyr, as it seemed, safe in the hands of her overjoyed parent. Fortunately she had held so long on the door as to swing clear of the footboard and wheels of the carriage, but still under the circumstances, escape with life was little less than a miracle, her only injury being a slight cut on the head through the fall on the rails; but she returned to the home circle in Cellardyke the same evening, apparently little, if any, the worse of her exciting adventure.
1879
South Africa – Marriage
At the Presbyterian Church, Port Elisabeth, Cape Colony, on the 10th ult, by the Rev Robt. Johnston, F A K Devenish, son of T Devenish Esq, of Salt River, Beaufort West, to Marion Hudson Cormack, eldest daughter of Thomas Cormack, fishcurer, Cellardyke.
The value of the carrier pigeon has never been so signally proved in modern times as in connection with the herring fishery – that is, in bearing the message from the boats leagues away at sea to the merchant, who then knows how and when to dispose the fortunes of the day. The breed and training of the birds are consequently an object of no little interest to those interested in the trade; in fact, an Anstruther fish curing establishment the dovecot is becoming almost as comm0n an appanage as in a Scottish lairdship in the olden time. Experiments have been again and again repeated in the northern stations, but the most interesting as yet in the Forth have just been made by Skipper John Carstairs of Cellardyke. The first was on Monday week when the bird, with the message fastened by an elastic band to its leg, was slipped about two leagues seaward of the Isle of May. No watch had been kept, but the messenger and message were found safe in the dovecot in about an hour and a half after the time it had taken wing. The experiment was renewed in the cruise of the present week, when the pigeon was released at an offing fully fifteen miles from the island. The shadows of the morning were still hanging on the western hills, and not only so but the bird had begun to encounter the strong headwind with the bewildering fog which then hung like a curtain on land and sea. Other obstacles were in the way, but led by heaven’s own implanted instinct, the fair messenger clave through one and all, and was found nestling in its accustomed perch in Anstruther by noon day, or within five or six hours after being cast loose by Skipper Carstairs.