1771
David Brown, lost 21 Feb 1771 is recorded in the Kilrenny Old Parish Rcerds as “young man lost at sea”
“… The cod and ling fishers baited their big hooks with the crab or partane which was fished by one of the crew in rotation working the creels while the boats were at sea. One day this solitary duty had fallen to the lot of broad-shouldered David Brown. The yawl was almost a stone cast in the offing of the little rock islet known as the Basket, and his neighbour saw him busy first with one trap then with another, when, like a sudden flash, he tumbled over the gunwale, and disappeared in the sea. It was in full sight of the shore, and boat after boat raced to the scene, but all that could be done was to search for and recover the body. And this was soon accomplished, when the fatal secret was at once explained, for it seems that on returning the “fished” creel to the water the string or messenger had entangled with a button of his sea jacket, and thus in a moment of unsuspected danger, the hapless mariner was dragged to an untimely grave. – “The Monks and the Fishermen – Fisher Life – Memorials of Cellardyke and the Fife Coast“ by George Gourlay 1879
1776
Yesterday morning, on board the sloop – Hope of Cellardyke, lying in Ely harbour, a fine boy was found dead, having been suffocated with the sulphur of the coal-fire that was in the cabin all night ; the mafter was also speechless, but it is expected he will recover.— There have been several late instances of the practice of keeping fires overnight in the cabins of vessels proving fatal, of which every shipmalter ought to be aware. Aberdeen Press and Journal – Monday 23 December 1776
1793
“In a bleak September morning in 1793 Alexander Wood and a stalwart crew left Cellardyke Harbour for the purpose of saving some nets which weres anchored not far from the shore. Most of them were landsmen, but the oars were plied so well that they reached the outside the Skerries. The danger indeed, seemingly past, when a great wave rose like a ruthless enemy, and with scarce a moments warning hurled her back upon the beaoon rock. A weary cry echoes along the beach, to which the neighbours run in breathless haste in all directions, “A boat,’a boat” shouts an excited voice, and a hundred willing hands spring responsive to the call, but the task is in vain, and men stand still in anguish and despair. Here the children, the little children sob and cling to their mothers, who rend the heavens with the wail of lamentation and woe. There on the bulwark a paralytic old man kneels and prays ia his night clothes, his grey hairs stream out in the bleak wind; and yonder on the pier a distracted wife, soon to be a mother, strives to bury her agony in the cruel sea, till she falls fainting in the arms those around her.
“It was the viisitation of mercy and her eye ia shut. The foaming waves are swift as messengers of fate on the path of destruction, and the struggle is short and decisive, one strong swimmer flings his arms in the air and disappears for ever. Two bosom friends cling together on the broken gunwale. But what is devotion andsacrifice to the pitiless surge? and they die together. A firm foot gained a rock; but the enemy is on his trail, and the hapless fisher rolls back a bleeding and braised corpse, and the crew one by one perished, with the solitary exception of the youth James Martin, who is borne amidst all the death and terror the storm as if an angel hand had been outstretched for his deliverance, till he landed unharmed high rock to leeward the harbour. The household bereavements being in all five widows and seventeen Children. Dundee Weekly News – Saturday 15 February 1879 extracts from Gourlays Fisher life or the Memorials of Cellardyke and the Fife Coast.
Lost – Alexander Wood – Wright and Boatbuilder. Baillie John Tarvitt – Weaver. David Donaldson Wright and Weaver, William Bauldie Weaver and John Gardner although picked up lived only a few days
1794
James Anderson, Sailor in Cellardyke ( But now amising being either lost or taken at sea) info from Harry Watson – Kilrenny and Cellardyke 1986
- Page 2 – List of Losses
- Page 3 – 1776 – 1799
- Page 4 – 1800 – 1849
- Page 5 – 1850 – 1869
- Page 6 – 1870 – 1879
- Page 7 – 1880 – 1889
- Page 8 – 1890 – 1899
- Page 9 – 1900 – 1909
- Page 10 – 1910 – 1920
- Page 11 – 1921 – 1950