John M. MacAulay - Fernhaven, - Flodabay, - Isle of Harris. - HS3 3HA. Tel:01859 530340

Builder of the Hebridean`Birlinn` model

`COASTAL AND ISLAND BOATS`
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or eight crewmen. Ness may well have been the last fishing community where the womenfolk carried the men on their backs through the surf to get them on board dry! Strangely, there was no marked transition from sail to motor in the history of the Sgoth Niseach. Their noble era abruptly ended with a dire shortage of able crewmen following the ravages of the Second World War. Subsequent fi shing effort was to be carried out from the main island port of Stornoway on larger drifters and liners.
A thirty three foot Sgoth has recently been built for the Sulaire Trust of Stornoway by John Murdo MacLeod, the last of that Ness family of Sgoth builders. Although now retired. John Murdo still keeps his hand in and continues to build the occasional rowing boat.

In May 1999 a one-day exhibition and conference to celebrate the 'Grimsay' boats was organised by Mary Norton on the Isle of Grimsay. North Uist. Three generations of the Stewart family had been boat-builders who devoted their working lives to building one specific type of boat. Many fine examples of their craft can still be seen working the island shores for lobster and crabs, but the old boatyard at Kenary is silent since Angus. the last of that line of craftsmen, died suddenly in June 1994 after finishing his day's work on a new boat His brother William. also a boat-builder but who chose to spend most of his working life as a fisherman in his self-built boat, is now retired but hopes to see the family tradition revived. and to that end he is actively encouraging a nephew to convert his skills as a joiner to a nobler use.

The Grimsay boat is double-ended and varies in length from....

Books by John MacAulay:
Birlinn, Longships of the Hebrides
(White Horse Press)

Seal-folk and Ocean Paddlers
( White Horse Press)

click on icon to view line
drawing of 19ft sailing boat

Glossary of Terms used
in this article