1880
Water Supply. -The Police Commissioners Cellardyke having come to a resolution to improve the water supply, recourse has been had to boring, which is now being carried out on an extensive scale about 200 yards to the north of the new Mission Church. At depth of little more than 100 feet, and an outlay of scarcely £20, a spring has been struck which yields with little, if any, diminution, some 300 gallons hour; but it has been resolved to prosecute the work for another 50 feet, in the hope of reaching such a supply as would alleviate all possible fear with regard to this prime element of health and comfort for many years to come.
1881
Horse Killed at Cellardyke.—On Monday morning a horse yoked into a cart, and belonging to Mr Morris, Crail, backed right over the west pier on to the rocks below, and sustained such serious injuries that it had shortly afterwards to be killed.
Theft From a boat
On Wednesday afternoon, William Spice, 24 years of age, a native of Sittingbourne, England, was committed to prison at Falkirk, for late the previous night broken into the trunk of Skipper John Watson, the owner of the fishing boat “Prime,” of Cellardyke, and with having stolen therefrom about £18 in gold and silver, with which he absconded. The boat was homeward bound from the Irish herring fishing, and on Tuesday night put up at Grangemouth, where the theft was committed. Information having been lodged with the police, the thief was traced to Bo’ness, where he was arrested in a lodging-house, four hours after the theft, with the stolen money in his possession.
The employees of Messrs Robert Watson & Co., merchants and manufacturers, were on Wednesday kindly treated to an excursion by their employers. The company accommodated in four waggonettes were conveyed to Ceres, and afterwards walked to Craigha’ Den. The weather being favourable, the whole of those present spent a most enjoyable day, and returned in the evening highly delighted with their outing.
Self-Reliance. — A fine example of the old proverb, “Where there’s a will there’s a way,” has just been exhibited at Anstruther pier. A Cellardyke skipper, Mr David McKenzie, being satisfied of the superiority of the cutter to the yawl rig for his boat, set to work, and with his own hands effected the necessary transformation, first on the boat and then on the sails, wielding both hatchet and needle in a way that would have been no discredit to the respective trades. The old Union, as a trim little smack, has now sailed to Sandhaven for the season, where the saving of time and trouble, not to refer to the unspeakable gain in the way of safety, will at last, it is hoped; induce others to “go and do like- wise.”
1882
The fleet this season includes the finest and largest busts ever fitted out from the East of Fife. Amongst these being notably the dashing clipper Ruby, which was launched the other day Councillor Jarvis to the crier of the old Cellardyke skipper, Mr David Wilson. For the last thirty years boat-building has been carried on with on greater enterprise on the East coast than at the Brae of Anstruther; but the Ruby is beyond question the queen of the fleet. She is longer by a foot than any other built here, her dimensions being —length, 55; beam, 18; and depth of hold, 7 ½ feet; but, in addition to this, she also challenges attention by the fineness and symmetry of her mould. Councillor Jarvis has also contracted, not for a boat, but a regular deep-sea going smack to the order of another Cellardyke skipper, Mr Robert Cunningham.
Anstruther HarbourA letter, dated from Aberdeen, was laid on the table from a well-known skipper of Cellardyke, Mr Thomas Birrell, asking to be recouped for outlay of 27s; also, for detention and trouble by his boat, the “Four Brothers,” being bilged at her moorings on Sabbath week. Mr Birrell did not, or could not, specify the cause of the accident, and in view of this the Board agreed to hold over the letter for further consideration.
1883
SANGER & SON’S GRAND CIRCUS. —This circus, said to be the largest in the world, and certainly the most extensive ever seen in the locality, paid a visit to Anstruther on Wednesday. The number of horses, nearly all white or piebald, and in fine condition, is no less than 156, while in addition there are ten elephants and four dromedaries and camels, the employees connected with the establishment numbering 86. At mid-day a grand procession, headed by the splendid brass band, which plays exclusively on instruments manufactured by Messrs F. Beason & Co., 198 Easton Road, London, started from the Crail Road, and marched through Rodger Street, Shore Street, East Green, and a portion of Cellardyke. It was witnessed by large crowds of people, who were loud in their praises, the feat of driving forty horses four abreast being specially admired. At both performances there was a large attendance, many owning from a distance, and every one appeared to be highly satisfied with the entertainment provided for them. The equestrian feats of Miss Lavinia Sanger, Miss Lucia Carr, Mdle. Lillie Hartley, and Miss L Talliott, as well as the daring performances of Mr Claude Randall, were greatly applauded, while the performing horses introduced by Herr Hoffman were the objects of much admiration. Two novel features in the entertainment were the performing elephants and the snake charming of Mdle. Demajuta.
1884
Body Found- Extraordinary IncidentAs the flood tide was setting on the shore on Tuesday morning (the water meanwhile being as clear as crystal) some fisher lads standing on the east breakwater observed the body of a man floating, like a mass of seaweed, towards the harbour. It was a ghastly sight. Scalp and face, as well as the skin of the hands, had disappeared. The alarm having been given, a boat went out and landed the mournful relic. It was conveyed to the old packet office, where it lay under lock and key for investigation. That was scarcely begun under the eye of P. C. Martin when the body was identified as that of Peter Masterton, at one time a waiter in Dundee, who at Whitsunday opened a small confection shop in the old house so long the residence of Bailie Peacock a little to the west of Cellardyke Town Hall. There he resided with his wife and only child; but, as so often happens, the little shift does not seem to have realised his expectations. He is said to have become the victim of low spirits, though not so much so as to excite the alarm or misgivings of his family, whom he left three weeks ago. The rest is only conjecture. It is not known whether an unwary step or some fatal resolution hurried him to his fate. Under the impression that he had returned to Dundee, his family – comparatively strangers, as they are – made few, if any, inquiries concerning him; and thus the terrible discovery of Tuesday was the first intimation of the melancholy secret. He was about thirty years of age; spare, but well knit; and so pleasant and cheerful in his manners when in health as to make a very favourable impression on those who met him in his brief sojourn in the east of Fifeshire.
Anstruther – On the forenoon of Saturday last, a fine carvel-built fishing boat was launched from Councillor Jarvis’s building yard here. Her length was 51 ½ feet, and breadth 18 feet. The owner is Skipper David Corstorphine, Cellardyke, whose boat, it will be remembered, came into collision near the Bell Rock with another boat, belonging to Arbroath, on the 26th of March last. The boat which was launched on Saturday has been named “The Betsy.”