The Royal Patriotic Fund was created in 1854. Queen Victoria, concerned for the well-being of the widows and orphans of British servicemen dying in the Crimean War, made an appeal for public donations.
One Cellardyke Skipper was listed as donors in February 1855 along with businesses
Alexander Smith and Crew £1
1856
Although happening in the previous October the February newspapers locally carried a death notice.
At Adelaide, South Australia on 26th October, James, Eldest son of Mr David Fowler, late of Cellardyke, aged three and a half years.
Anstruther – We are sorry to learn that the storm which raged so wildly last week inflicted great damage on the fishing boats in our harbour. In addition to the Cellardyke boats there were a great many stranger boats in the harbour, attracted by the herring fishing, now being prosecuted along the coast. The fishermen disliked the appearance of the weather on Wednesday evening, and only a few boats went to sea, the rest numbering somewhere about 140—having on board their nets and other fishing gear, remained at anchor in the harbour. About 9 o’clock the wind rose, and about 12 it blew a gale, which from 1 to 3 o’clock increased till it blew a hurricane. It was high water when the storm was at its worst, and the wind being from the south west it blew directly into the mouth of the harbour. The boats soon began to drag their anchors, drifting against each other, and were in a body dashed against the quay of Shore Street. Many of the fishermen were present, and soon all of them, roused from their beds by the drummer announcing that their boats were adrift, crowded the quays; but the great seas rolling into the harbour, the blinding spray, and the howling wind, paralysed all their efforts, and reduced them only to look helplessly on, as their boats grinding against each other and hurled against the quay, were stoved in or went to pieces before their eyes. There were indeed a few successful cases of bold daring where the parties flinging themselves in their boats skilfully removed them from the crash. There were also some cases of hairbreadth escapes. One man was washed off the East Quay, but was fortunately got hold of; another would have been crushed between his boat and the wall if help not been at hand. When day dawned the harbour presented such a scans of wreck and disaster, as the oldest inhabitants bad never seen nor heard of. Jammed against the quay, and crushed against or upon each other, like a flock of scared sheep on a steamer’s deck, lay almost all those boats that rode so freely at sunset. It was found that while few escaped unscathed, there were 42 boats so damaged, that it would cost from £8 to £4O each to repair them, exclusive of loss by their torn and injured nets, &c. One boat was literally smashed, and had to be lifted out in fragments. A Buckhaven boat, only 6 years old, was so damaged that it cannot be repaired ; and a Newhaven boat, of only a week or two old, can be repaired at a cost of not less than £4O. It is calculated that many hundreds of pounds will be requited before all these damaged boats can proceed again to sea; but even that, we understand, is not the greatest loss. The winter herring fishing, which lasts but a week or two, is now in its commencement; and this disaster has spread a general gloom over the fishermen, as well as quite disabled or crippled many of them for further exertions this season. If the idea of a low water harbour at Craignoon with a safety basin was ardently desired before, that wish has by this disaster been now formed into enthusiastic determination. Fishermen from Newhaven and all along the coast also express their readiness to give assistance. But fishermen are poor and can do little, and almost all their means are invested in their boats, which lie in a harbour where there is no safety. It is hardly credible that Government believes our fisheries to be a source of much national wealth; and the nurseries where are reared their sailors that man our mercantile and our war navies, and accumulate the wealth arid maintain the glory of our country, if so, one can scarcely think that the northern shores of the Forth would still have almost only the creeks which the waves have hollowed out, although it is so thickly studded with fishing towns and villages. Much is talked about Scottish Rights Associations; here now is in truth a local, if not a national, grievance, enforced on attention, too, by a telling argument, which has brought sorrow to many a heart, and will curtail the comforts of many a house hold for a long time to come, which should not be lost sight of, and we do hope that our friends on the coast will make such use of it as to secure the powerful aid of our energetic and useful Member of Parliament, and give Government no peace till their low-water harbour, with a safety basin, at Craignoon, has become an accomplished fact.
1862
Early on Friday morning last, as the crew of one of the Cellardyke fishing boats were in the act of drawing their nets at the fishing-ground, one of them observed the mast to be falling down. He at once gave the alarm, and his companions that could averted from the stroke, one, named Watson, seated in the stern, being unable to remove in time. It consequently fell upon him, crushing him severely. He was immediately brought into harbour, and conveyed to his home at Cellardyke. Dr MacArthur was forthwith in attendance, who pronounced him to have received some severe internal injuries. He at present lies in a very precarious state. The accident was caused by the pin or wedge of the hasp which keeps the mast in its position having come out by the rolling of the boat
1863
On Saturday afternoon, David Elder, aged 48 years, a carter in the employment of Mr George Henderson, Cellardyke, fell off his cart a little to the east of Dunnipace farm, on the road between Windygates and Largo. The cart wheel passed over his breast, dislocating his shoulder, and breaking all the ribs on the left side, and forcing the fractured bones in upon one of the lungs. The man was conveyed to Leven after being found, and examined by Dr Kennedy, who states that there is small hope of his recovery. Elder, who had been at Cameron Distillery for dregs, says that he was seated on the top of the barrel containing the dregs, and had fallen into a doze when the accident happened. The man was quite sober.
1864
St Monance – The terrific gales of the past week have sorely, tested the patience and skill of our fishermen, but they have hitherto escaped from loss, – except in the case which occurred on Friday, the 12th., when one, of our boats, seeking shelter from the storm, repaired to Cellardyke Harbour, and was wrecked on the rocks that obstruct the entrance. There is no doubt there would have been the loss of life and the destruction of the boat, had it not been for the intrepidity of a young man who swam out with a line to the rock where the wreck had occurred, and thus effecting a communication with the land, enabled the local fishermen to draw the damaged vessel with its crew ashore. The boat is much crushed and strained, but the crew are unhurt. Many fears were entertained by those who witnessed the alarming scene, lest the waves should engulf the helpless wreck, thus lying at the very entrance to the harbour; and the condition of the boat when it reached the pier proved that these fears were not groundless, as the crew had scarcely leaped ashore when their craft was tilled and went down. The fishermen of St Monance have, on many former occasions, been indebted to their neighbours in Cellardyke for kind assistance and hospitality in similar circumstances. We are happy to find that what has thus often been so finely given has not been ungratefully received, and that a friendly spirit and intercourse obtain between the two communities, confirmed by the experience of much mutual kindness, and cemented by frequent intermarriages.