AT Foulis Point in East Ross, generations of motorists have diverted their child passengers by pointing out the ‘crocodiles’ that lie in the water there at low tide. These two oak skeletons are all that is left of 12 Zulu herring drifters that were last hauled up in 1914 at the safe winter berth of Ardullie with the help of a farm threshing machine. Many of the skippers never returned from the First World War and those that did found steam drifters driven by engines had replaced those that relied on sails and oars.
First designed by Walter Campbell of Lossiemouth in 1879, the year of the Zululand war in South Africa, Zulus were built up to the First World War. In their thousands they chased the herring—‘the silver darlings’ as they were known to Highland fisherfolk— down the coasts of Britain from early spring through to autumn. Family-owned boats from far-flung ports fished to sell to distant markets.
The Zulu took the best parts of two earlier Scottish fishing boats, the Fifie with its straight stem and the Skaffie with its raked stern, and combined them in one boat with a short keel. This produced a two-masted vessel that was easier to manoeuvre and had more deck space for the fishermen aboard. Now, only five examples of the Zulu remain in existence. Of these, the newly restored St Vincent, a 49ft dipping lug-rigged herring drifter, has just completed her sea trials and is ready to take up her role as a working museum, based between the Highland West Coast port of Ullapool and the nearby island of Tanera Mòr in the Summer Isles.
Denne historien er fra October 04, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 04, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
