Reaper - A Maritime Must

Picture the scene: you are wandering around the picturesque Dunbar harbours when you come across something equally as amazing - Reaper. I had to go aboard, stand on deck and feel the gentle swell of the sea rock this magnificent boat, go below deck, learn all about her. This was all my Christmases and birthdays rolled into one!
Reaper is a Fifie Sailing Herring Drifter, an impressive title fo an equally impressive boat. This was, I am told, the most popular design of fishing boat to be found on the East Coast of Scotland for much of the 19th and early 20th century. "Born" in 1902 at the Sandhaven yard of  J. & G. Forbes, she began life as a two-masted sailing lugger used for drift net and great line fishing. 70 feet long, Reaper was rigged with a "dipping lug foresail and a standing line mizzen" and was a star of the summer herring fishing. In fact the late 1930s saw her hold the record catch of herring in Shetland at some 223 crans - almost a quarter of a million fish. Mindblowing whichever way you look at it.
Originally built as a sailing lugger, Reaper succumbed to progress and had an engine installed for the first time in 1916. She continued fishing until the outbreak of the Second World War when her peaceful existence was interrupted by the Admiralty. She was requisitioned, as were many others, and saw service in the South of England, a far cry from her Scottish roots. War over, she returned safely to Scotland and resumed fishing in Shetland until 1957.
Zetland Council purchased Reaper in 1959, using her as a "flit boat" to carry general cargoes. It was at this time that her name was changed to Shetlander. This phase of her life finished in 1974, and soon after she was lucky enough to be snapped up by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Fife. She was moved from Shetland to the Museum's home in Anstruther, and lovingly, and very painstakingly, restored to her 1902 two-masted lugsail rig. She was also renamed Reaper.
In 1985 a group of volunteers, the Museum Boats Club, came into being and took responsibility for the maintenance and operation of Reaper, an undertaking they still continue to this very day. An extensive refit was carried out between October 2004 and April 2005, and the boat is now an integral part of the Core Collection of the National Historic Ships Fleet - quite a mouthful! She also has the distinction of being one of the few boats in the Collection to be kept in a seagoing condition. As if this were not enough, Reaper is berthed in Anstruther Harbour outside the Scottish Fisheries Museum as its flagship.
Reaper has now been equipped as a floating museum of the herring industry. Not one to rest on her laurels - or should that be anchor - she has already visited over fifty separate venues as far apart as Portsmouth and Lerwick, as well as appearing in several films and television programmes. Not bad for a boat who began life as a humble fishing boat over one hundred years ago, although I somehow doubt she was ever humble! When open to the public, admission is free.  
Donations, however, are always very welcome and very gratefully received. So if you should come across her whilst on your travels please step on board and look around. It is incredibly interesting, beautifully laid out, and the volunteers are knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic. They will stand and talk, answer questions, and obviously have a genuine pride in, and understanding of, Reaper. The sole survivor of the once huge fleet of Scottish first class Fifie sailing luggers which completely dominated the herring fishing along the East Coast during the beginning of the 20th century, she is a magnificent sight as she enters or leaves harbour. There is always a touch of romance surrounding a ship in full sail, billowing in the wind, rising and falling in harmony with the waves. Oh to be a sailor on the high seas on board such an awe-inspiring vessel. At the mercy of the weather, at the mercy of the sea ...... one can but dream, and dreams do come true ...... just not very often.