Newhaven.] FISHER FEUD WITH PRESTONPANS 301
men of the town of Edinburgh, and Lady Greenwich,
on one part, and certain fishermen of
Prestonpans on the other. The point in dispute is
certain oyster scalps, to which each party claims an
exclusive right. Accusations of encroachment were
mutually given and retorted. At dredging, when
the parties met, much altercation and abusive
language took place-bloody encounters ensued,
but only occurs in the Tmendas, like hawkings,
huntings, or other words of style.
? After various representations to the Judge-
Admiral, his lordship pronounced an interlocutor,
ordaining both parties to produce their prescriptive
rights to their fishings, and prohibited them from
dredging oysters in any of the scalps in dispute till
the issue of the cause.
November 10, 1786, in virtue of which his lordship
was infeft, interaZia, in the oyster scalps in question.
They also condescended on a charter granted by
King James VI., in 1585, to the town of Burntisland,
which is on record, and which they say establishes
their right. They further contend that the magistrates
have produced no proper titles to prove
their exclusive right to the scalps they have let in
tack to the Newhaven fishermen.
?The charter of King James VI. was resigned
,by the town in the time of Charles I,, and the new
charter granted by the latter, gives no right to the
oyster scalps in dispute. The word ?fishings,? in
was abolished in defiance of the principles of the
Treaty of Union) in favour of the Newhaven men;
but each party had to pay their own expenses.
So far back as 1789 we begin to read of the
encroachments made by the sea in this quarter, and
probably of what was afterwards so long known as
the ? Man-trap,? as the Advertiser mentions that ?? a
young lady coming from Newhaven to Leith fell
over the precipice on the side of the sea,?? and
that within six weeks the same catastrophe had
befallen four others, ?? the road being so narrow
and dangerous that people at night run a great risk
of their lives?
302 OLD ANI) NEW EDINBURGH. [Newhaven.
began in the Firth of Forth, and it is not very
creditable to the vigilance of the fishermen of Fife,
Newhaven, and elsewhere, that this great fund of
wealth was not developed earlier, as when the
herrings left the shore near the mouth of the Firth
it was supposed they had taken their departure
to other waters, and no attempts were made to
seek them farther up the estuary.
The discovery was made accidentally by Thomas
Brown, near Donnibristle, who had been for years
wont to fish with hook and line for haddocks and
podlies, near the shore, and who found the
herrings in such numbers that he took them up in
buckets. In 1793 the fishermen of the Queensfeny
began to set their nets with a result that astonished
them, though twenty years before it had been reported
to them in vain that when the mainsail of
a vessel fell overboard in Inverkeithing Bay, and
was hauled in, it was found to be full of herrings.
The success of the Queensferry boats excited attention
generally, and this fisheryhas been followedwith
perseverance and good fortune, not only by the
fishermen of Fife and Lothian, but of all the east
coast of Scotland.
During the old war with France the patriotism
of the Newhaven fishenhen was prominent on
more than one occasion, and they were among
the first to offer their services as a marine force
to guard their native coast against the enemy.
So much was this appreciated that the President
of the ? Newhaven Free Fishermen?s Society,?
instituted, it is said, by a charter of James VI.,
was presented with a handsome silver medal and
chain by the Duke of Buccleuch, in presence
of several county gentlemen. On one side this
medal, which is still preserved at Newhaven,
bears the inscription :-?: In testimony of the
brave and patriotic offer of the fishermen of Newhaven
to defend the coast against the enemy,
this mark of approbation was voted by the county
of Midlothian, November znd, 1796.?? On the
reverse is the thistle, with the national motto, and
the legend Agminc Remorum CeZeri.
The medal the box-master wears, in virtue of his
office, when the Society has its annual procession
through Leith, Edinburgh, Granton, and Trinity.
This body is very exclusive, no strangers or others
than lawful descendants of members inheriting
the privileges of membership-a distinguishing
feature that has endured for ages. The Society is
governed by a preses, a box-master, sec?retary, and
fifteen of a committee, who all change office
annually, except the secretary.
Their offer of service in 1796 shows that they
were ready to fight ? on board of any gunboat or
vessel of war that Government might appoint,?
between the Red Head of Angus and St Abb?s
Head, ?and to go farther if necessity urges?
This offer bears the names of fifty-nine fishermen
-names familiar to Newhaven in the present day.
In the January of the following year the Lord
Provost and magistrates proceeded to Newhaven
and presented the fishermen with a handsome
stand of colours in testimony of their loyalty, after
a suitable prayer by the venerable Dr, Johnston, of
North Leith.
Formed now into Sea Fencibles, besides keeping
watch and ward upon the coast, in 1806 two
hundred of them volunteered to man the TexeZ,
sixty-four guns, under Captain Donald Campbell,
and proceeding to sea from Leith Roads, gave
chase to some French frigates, by which the coast
of Scotland had been infested, and which inflicted
depredations on our shipping. For this service
these men were presented by the city of Edinburgh
with the rather paltry gratuity of Az50. An
autograph letter of George III., expressing his satisfaction
at their loyalty, was long preserved by the
Society, but is now lost.
With the TkxeZ, in 1807, they captured the
French frigate Neyda, and took her as a prize into
Yarmouth Roads, after which they came home to
Newhaven with great ZcZat; and for years afterwards
it was the pride of many of these old salts,
who are now sleeping near the ruined wall of Our
Lady?s and St. James?s Chapel, to recur to the
days ? when I was aboard the Ted.,?
It was an ancient practice of the magistrates of
Edinburgh, by way of denoting the jurisdiction of
the city, in virtue of the charter of James IV.,
to proceed yearly to Newhaven, and drink wine in
the open space called the square.
When a dreadful storm visited the shores of the
Firth, in October, 1797, the storm bulwark at
Newhaven, eastward of the Leith battery, was completely
torn away, and large boulders were ?rolled
towards the shore, many of them split,? says the
Herald, ?as if they had been blown up by gunpowder.?
The road between Newhaven and Trinity with
its sea-wall was totally destroyed. A brig laden with
hemp and iron for Deptford Yard, was flung
on shore, near Trinity Lodge. This must have
been rather an ill-fated craft, as the same journal
states that she had recently been re-captured by
H.M.S. Cobour- in the North Sea, after having
been taken by the French frigate, R@ubZicailu.
Another vessel was blown on shore near Caroline
Park, and the Lord Hood, letter of marque, was)
warped off, with assistance from Newhaven.
