MEMORIES OF THE ISLE OF MAN HERRING FISHERY BY MR M. D. GARDNER.
(from Michael Craine's letter collection)

I was first at Peel during the 1949 season, we started with the drift nets in May then changed over to ring-netting about the third week in June. I was on MACE II, KY39, from Anstruther, skippered by my father Mr R Gardner and our partner ring-netter was GRATITUDE, LH28, from Newhaven, owned and skippered by J (Biggy) Wilson. GRATITUDE was varnished with a maroon border as Biggy was a Heart-of-Mid-Lothian football supporter.

MACE II carried 6 crew and the boat was scrubbed and painted before leaving. We left home in the morning on the first Monday of May, arriving at Grangemouth in the evening ready to sail through the Forth and Clyde Canal the next morning. It would take 24 to 36 hours to reach Bowling on the Clyde and a further 16 hours to reach Peel. We returned home at the end of July, there was no going home during the Manx fishery. Peel was a busy port boats from Scotland and Ireland joining the Manx boats.

On arrival at Peel we stored ashore 25 spare drift-nets and the ring-net. It took about 24 hours to change from the drift-net to ring-net.

At the beginning of the season the herring was scarce, small and thinly spread along the surface. We worked 50 to 55 drift nets, each 55 yards long and 18 score meshes deep (36 meshes to the yard) which was a bit smaller than we usually used in the North Sea (30 meshes to the yard).

There was an old boat about 50 years old, called AVON BEG, D156, from Howth, fishing from Peel at this time, the youngest crew man who they called 'the boy' was 63 years old. AVON BEG was built in Peel in 1911. When sailing into Peel in the morning there was an old fella who lived on the quay called Billy, he would always shout, ³Have you got any herring bonnie Scots laddie?² If you replied, ³Yes² he would reply with, ³Can I have some milk yessir². He liked the sweetened type.

The grounds we worked around the Isle of Man were off the Chicken Rock, Port Erin Bay, off the Niarbyl Point, north west of Peel, and on the east coast of the island between Port St Mary and Douglas. On one occasion there was a lot of herring off Douglas which stretched right into the harbour. When fishing off the east side we landed in Douglas or Port St Mary to where the kipper merchants from Peel would come and to buy them. We also landed catches in Portpatrick and Portavogie. At the weekends we caught a 'chara' to Douglas to go dancing or the pictures. MACE II was also fishing from Peel during the 1938 season when she was called DILIGENCE. Between the 23rd June and the 27th July her butcher's bill was £3.5s.5d

After the Isle of Man fishery we returned home for a week to clean up, carry out a few jobs on the boat and change the nets, before sailing to the Northumberland herring fishery, working out of Seahouses and then Whitby and Scarborough. We remained at this fishery until the end of October. Then we would sail home for a couple of weeks before leaving to fish from the Clyde and Minch ports until Christmas. Not much spare time at home for married man.

MACE II was 48ft long and powered by a 66hp Kelvin and was built by Reekie, St Monance in 1928 as the DILIGENCE. GRATITUDE, LH28, was built in 1934 by Reekie and was the last of the Newhaven ring-netters. Other KY ring-netters were AMBER QUEEN, KY15 and FLORAL QUEEN, KY110; HOPE, KY167 and GOOD DESIGN KY115; PROGRESS, KY143 and LEA RIG, KY250.