Fishing Boats at Harbour - return to old days? With photos..

[Ship called Dignity]

Not quite a return to the old days but couldn't help but notice the increased number of fishings boats at the harbour over the last couple of days.

Anyone know why?

Nice to see too.

[knock]

Last week at the town market the seafood stall said they had very little fresh seafood cause the boats hadn't been out the week before.
Might that be the case this week also?

[jdcarra]

Not quite a return to the old days but couldn't help but notice the increased number of fishings boats at the harbour over the last couple of days.

Anyone know why?

The bad weather Davie P . See a few of the big Oban registered scallopers taken shelter for most of the week. Would not be very nice out on the west coast this week, bad enough inshore.

[Annie]

Lovely boat! Great hull paintings!

[petewick]

Star of Jura and Golden Promise are part of a fleet of five owned
by John MacAllister of Oban, who has Campbeltown connections.


petewick

[jdcarra]

Star of Jura and Golden Promise are part of a fleet of five owned
by John MacAllister of Oban, who has Campbeltown connections.


petewick

And originally lived and fished out of Gigha for many years. And for the marine enthusiast's.


December 2006

STAR OF JURA. The 19m automated scallop dredger Star of Jura has begun fishing in the Irish Sea following deliver to The Star Fishing Company Ltd. and skipper John Scott by Whitby boatbuilders Parkol Marine Engineering.Designed by Ian Paton of SC MacAllister, Star of Jura is virtually a repeat order of her sistership Ròis Mhàiri built by the same yard for to John MacAlister (Oban) Ltd. in August 2005.Star of Jura is powered by a Cat 3412C engine developing 335kW @ 1600rpm and is coupled to a Reintjes 7.25:1 reduction gearbox with Lips 1800mm dia. propeller in a matching Lips HR propulsion nozzle. This combination gave Star of Jura a top speed of 10 knots on sea trails off Whitby.A Cat 3406 283kW auxiliary engine drives the main hydraulic system through a JBJ clutch, in addition to a 75kVa generator. The 121kW Cummins 6CTA8.3 engine also drives a 75kVa generator, as well as a back-up hydraulic system through a Dong-I splitter box. Both box cooled auxiliaries also provide belt drives for 150A 24V Transmotor generators for battery charging duties. 22,000 litres of fuel are carried in engineroom wing tanks, while 3,000 litres of freshwater are housed aft.Incorporating a ballast keel, Star of Jura’s identical double chine hull form has a registered length of 16.49m, depth moulded of 4.05m and a maximum draft of 4.4m. A concave raked stem and flared bow sections above the semi-bulbous bow ensure that the vessel’s 7m beam is carried forward to the enclosed forecastle where catches of king scallops are handled. The sides of Star of Jura’s full-length shelterdeck are left open. This enables the crew to maintain the scallop dredges from the main deck and side reception hoppers to be fitted level with the gunwale rail.The two 20t split trawl winches are positioned inboard and slightly forward of 10t gilson winches on the main deck midships. By offsetting the fishroom hatch to port, an obstruction free walkway from the deck casing to the forecastle exists, where the catch is sorted. Immediate access is also available at shelterdeck level, where the wheelhouse is offset to starboard to create a walkway along the central part of the open shelterdeck down the portside of the wheelhouse. Winches are also mounted for handling the scallop beams. Weighing more than 1t each, the towing arms aft at the quarters are hydraulically raised and lowered by outrigger winches fitted on the shelterdeck. Safety platforms are fitted to these towing arms to provide maximum safety for the crewman clipping in the gilson hook. Tipping winches, to assist replacing dredges, or as standby should the tipping doors fail midway through a trip, are mounted on the main lifting gantry located amidships.Star of Jura is equipped with a fully automated gear and catch handling system designed around pivoting 32ft steel doors fabricated by Macduff Shipyards Ltd. which also manufactured and supplied the vessel’s hydraulic deck machinery. Pivoted at the gunwale rail and extending for more than half the vessel’s length, these self-tipping doors are raised by hydraulic rams to invert the dredges simultaneously. After dropping into side reception hoppers, the contents of the dredges are moved by conveyors forward into the fully enclosed forecastle where a crewman selects scallops from the conveyor before stones and other debris are returned to the sea through side chutes. Filled baskets of king scallops are then delivered by chute to a holding hopper prior to bagging in the large refrigerated fishroom which accommodates 500 x 40kg bags of scallops. A Ziegra SW12 1.5t seawater flake ice machine is scheduled to be fitted shortly.

[general jack o'niell]

so they are "dwedge's" boats? thought as much, oops forgot he doesn't like that name, especially when it appears in print, once even threatened my older sibling for using it in the SFW, he might even have lasted 5 or 10 seconds, the brother being a lot younger and fitter in those days, oh and teaching karate in oban in his spare time.
they even tempted me down the pier for a wee look last friday, where i was acosted by two visiting skippers, one a very nice gentleman of my aquaintance, who i believe is currently the object of a few jokes regarding his soon to be "new home", the other? i didn't quite catch the name, it was clink or clinkers or something like that, something to do with copper pipes? as usual i was told half a story and left non the wiser, especially when this clink character accused me of being something of a maverick and the other fellow delighted in having his crew believe i belonged to a family well known for argueing amongst ourselves, an accusation i refute, ok so some of it was true.

it was nice to see so many boats in the harbour, even if i spent the time continually pointing and asking "and who's boat is that?" my replie to the answers i'll keep to myself.

the two star boats look well rigged for the job, but i couldn't help thinking that there was very little deck room, JD's description of how everything operates, explains a lot, but i still thought they looked tight on the deck space side, plus i thought they would have been working more a side than they did? beautifully designed boats all the same, every last little detail well thought out, the little cages on the outrigger arms puzzled me, they look like mini crows nests, but i'm sure they have some other use?

[Right Pongal]

God aye, 'King Clam's boats were looking right pongal when they were in. Even the rust was damned smert. Were these boats not all designed by SC McAllister of CN?

Whatever happened to the SFW and the old favourites like 'Around the Porks'? If you weren't quoted on a regular basis then you were naw worth mentioning. It was a bit like the old addage: 'Bad publicity is better than no publicity'. The big burly Gigha man must have had second thoughts on tackling the General's older brother and the rest is history as they say. Just imagine, there would be a hell of a lot more Baltic men on the dole if the gunfight at the OK Corale had taken place.

Who is this character Clinky that the General is mentioning in relation to copper or was it coppers? For a minute I thought we were going to see a 'Chink' in his armour opening and a wry smile appearing from under the maverick's hat! In the words of one old sage: 'No wonder the fishing is in the state it's in!.


The little cages on the outriggers were said to be a last minute addition just in case the vessel had the misfortune to lie in CN. They weren't for incarsarating the General or any of his argumentative brothers, and not even for storing the butcher meat away from the traditional wheelhouse roof. Many's a steak pie and I don't mean Gorilla Heids were stolen from our wheelhouse, not to mention the Saddell Street Butcher's best 'pork links' and it wasn't the gulls that were to blame. No, the cages were for storing the non ferrous metals like the amalgum in the crew's teeth whilst sleeping alongside the Old Quay.

What's our 'Rover' saying to it the naow: 'Every doag has his day!' Woof Woof!

[general jack o'niell]

not at all, i'm assured that the SFW went downhill fast when the brothers of myself and LO left its employ, something aboot no bein able to string two wurds thegether, somethin i'm sure your more than fam-eeliar wuth.

as for the "clink" i'm certain it was an "L" and not a "H", him being settled comfortably in his new position, we even exchange a wee hullo when i'm over by. the fellow i was told about has something in common with oor wullie fae the sunday post, apart from the never growing up bit. tho i don't think wullie was ever the dux in the school?

as for meat from saddell st butchers, we wud never touch it, you'd maybe get a bit of neelies finger in the sausages and to quote their one time butcher boy "i've no idea what it was, but it was red and it stank, they just threw it into the mixture anyway, add more pepper, they said, the punters will never notice" he onlt worked a saturday morning but this usually coincided with the aftermath of a friday night for the "adults" so the shop never opened before 11am, if at all.

oor meat aye came from hislops, ye canna trust those "low townie" butchers, i saw the pot that one used to cook the filling for steak pies, put me off them for twenty years, still its nice offices now, so i suppose they must have managed to scrape ah that grease aff the walls upstairs, just the thought of that cooker is giving me the dry heaves.

your story of missing meat just disna ring true, besides who would keep frey bentos tins on top of a wheelhouse? as for links? it was always strictly square slice or round with us, sat in the pan better ans the extra oil would slop over them in a roll, they cooked much quicker that way.

not to be confused with a certain ferry skipper who once thought the cook a topclass chef, just because he heated the plates in the oven "stops the grease congealing before your finished eating" exact words, tho i've probably written them a bit better, prose, grammar, historical facts and all that, not just thrown it together like any old rubbish

oh aye they're a braw pair of boats right enough, i went two seperate days for a look, wisnae offered a cup of tea yet!!!

[Right Pongal]

Here was me thinking that the grammar and punctuation had improved dramatically when the aforementioned individuals retired from the SFW, leaving thon be-spectacled wummin at the controls with an uphill struggle to regain the credibility of Wee Arthur's foundering folio. With the impellers well and truly sheared and the water breaching the crankcase, it was inevitable that these comics would eventually be hauled up the slip for a refit.

It wisnae the Gorillaz Hiedz that were on the wheelhouse roof, they were in the seat lockers rusting amongst the ballast and the tins of chips in brine. In fact, there was a better chance that they would be used as frisbees as long as gort hadn't set in, often showing up in the benthos surveys commissioned by the marine lab. I remember asking why the wheelhouse roof was thought to be a suitable location to store meat, only to be on the receiving end of a demonstration by the skipper putting his hand up onto the wheelhouse roof then down to the deck and proclaiming the roof cooler. Absolute nonsense of course, but try contradicting an old sage in those days!

The Saddell Street butchers weren't the ideal choice, but when the day came when Wee Scoom closed thon big fridge door for the last time in the village, things were never the same. Did you know, he would put everything back into the chill between customers, then ask for the requirements of the next customer before diving back in and removing the carcass from which he was about to saw or chop the desired cut from?

However, as with dealing with all butchers, if you wanted grade 'A' mince you had to ask for a pound of shoulder steak, then wait for him to cut it and just as he was placing it on the grease proof paper, ask him to mince it, and if you were really feeling brave, ask him to run it through a second time.

The look of disdain on his face remains with us all even now, but despite the proverbial steam coming out his ears, never a profane word crossed his lips. Well at least not whilst you were still in earshot, but I dare say that if the refrigerator could talk..... No, he would reach for the big cigarette that was smouldering in the ashtray and inhale sharply before exhaling 50% of it through his nostrils and the other 50% through gritted teeth.

Now, if your looking for a good butcher these days you need to seek out 'Eric the Red' who probably learned his trade during his numerous spells in the caboodle at the back of Scoom's fleshery. Stop in the mainstreet in Lochgilphead and dive into Fergusons and ask for the man that makes the record breaking clootie dumplings. He's a cheery soul, full of native crofter cunning and a dab hand with a filleting knife as well as a rifle!

I thought I saw the fellow that the General was referring to, but as he was looking rather pale, I didn't push him passed 'Aye!' I've got no idea what the General was alluding to here, but no doubt it will come out in the wash. Were they singing thon old Undertone's anthem, and I don't mean: 'My perfect Cousin!' Ji**y Ji**y

Having served more than a few good sessions quietly observing in the generally civilized confines of the 'Captain's Cabin' amongst the seafaring fraternity of the Wee Toon, listening to the world and 'Beyond the Stargate' being put to rights, gives me an insight into the minds of the offspring of the exiled crofters that resided within the Burgh of CN. The only lighthearted break in the proceedings would probably be when a less than welcome individual would interrupt the debate, dashing through the bar to the toilets and then sharply exiting, complaining bitterly of the great dis-service that the chewing gum machine had done him again. I don't know if I'm imagining it now, but I could swear that akin to the executioner throwing the switch on 'Old Sparkie', the lights dimmed in the bar every time the mechanism was activated in the machine, resulting in a chorus of yaaaaho's from the congregation in the bar.

Despite the enthralling entertainment, it was always a great relief to get back outside into the square and breath the freshly inverted Bengullion air again, albeit shortlived!

Right now General, we'll need to ease back on the throttle and maybe extinguish the navigation lights as there's no royalties for you or I if it goes to press over near Druimyeon..... Comeback!

[Hurricane Jeck]

Now, if your looking for a good butcher these days you need to seek out 'Eric the Red' who probably learned his trade during his numerous spells in the caboodle at the back of Scoom's fleshery. Stop in the mainstreet in Lochgilphead and dive into Fergusons and ask for the man that makes the record breaking clootie dumplings. He's a cheery soul, full of native crofter cunning and a dab hand with a filleting knife as well as a rifle!

Ah well, Eric the Red, eh? I mind him fine as a young fla with a grin as wide as the Big Bay. Chust a fine lad aall together. There wuz a hell o' a to-do at the Clubhouse one night if I remember right. Aye, it wis wan o' them mixed foursome things they used tae hae wi' the veesitors in the summer. Ye pit yir name doon on Tuesday and Friday nights and got drawn with a partner o' some sorts. Either wan o' thae funny men frae Glesca wi' the long cream shorts and Jesus sandals or if ye were big enough a wee wummin wi' pom-poms on her golf shoes. Ye wid gae oot in groups o' fower, shake hauns at the end and then get ta'en tae " The Cocktail Bar" for a wee ginger beer or somethin'. Onyway, Eric gets roond the course wi' his pertner, a very jolly wee wifie, and then a' the handshaking starts. All o' a sudden aall hell is let loose as his pet grass-snake pokes his heid oot the bottom of his sleeve. Cue screamin' weemin and total chaos for about half an hour. Then when they had aall recovered some pan-loafy wife was drawin' the raffle for six Dunlop 65's when suddenly she starts another dose of screamin' and a the weemin fled again. Turns oot some bad wee beggars had pit some shelled limpets in the raffle tin. Ye jeest wonder whit the puir wummin thought she had got hold o'..........

Whit am I daen' here onyway? Is it no' time for ma nap.

Nurse? Nur ...... ach never mind I've just remembered where ah left that quarter bottle!

[Right Pongal]

What the heck did you do to the matron that caused her to hit you that hard that you've remembered your password Jeck?

I suppose it was your weak bladder that had you up at 2 am posting on here? I never thought that you were into thon gowf and hand-shaking either, but I suppose you learn something new every day.

Young Eric's grandfather was well known as an artist around these parts, but the whereabouts of most of his work is unknown. Supposedly he mostly painted on hard board or cut down tea chests and despite the undoubted talent of the man, the older generation were allegedly using them as tea-trays and for drawing the draught on their coal fires.

Mind you, I suppose the smoke would work wonders against the woodworm, albeit that it would also mute the original colours. Maybe JD could track down a picture or two. It didn't take him long to find the Dalintober boats!

[general jack o'niell]

theres no much'll get past you, mind i did everything but stick "here comes a big clue" at the start of every sentence. as for the royalties? theres as much chance of me getting any as there is of you finding a mention of me or mine in any of those publications, bitter? naw us, if we hanna somethin to complain aboot ( as i told "the peeweep" this morning when he was rantin in the street aboot getting the wrang prescription) well, i for wan jist wunna be happy.

it could be worse, theres a poll knockin aboot elsewhere about who would play us in a movie and the older brother, the wee fellow with the big black belt for haddin up his pyjamas, he's bein played by joe pasqualie, he's tryin to put a brave face on it but i know its riling him, but you'll naw hear him complain, he's too busy "networking" on facebook, i've already told him that when it comes to networking he would be the type that would have a comb, but as usual the dig went right over his head, still what do you expect, he's righthanded and never learnt much hingin ower the rail wavin cheerio to his breakfast