CHAP, vir.] FISHERMEN'S WIVES. 323 



been married in a week and whose house, like that of a 

 friend and namesake, was being furnished at home was 

 cast ashore at Whitehills, and one of the first to recog- 

 nise the body was the father of the betrothed. Another 

 body was got at the mouth of the little burn at the fur- 

 ther end of the Boyndie Links. This also was on Friday : 

 it was found to be the remains of one of the five brothers 

 namely John, aged twenty-five, the namesake alluded to, 

 who was to have been married on the morrow. The body 

 of another of the five brothers namely William was found 

 floating in the bay, off Banff Harbour, lashed to a buoy, to 

 which the poor fellow had attached himself, probably in the 

 boat, for safety. At one time the body was seen in this 

 position at Whitehills, suspended from the buoy, and so close 

 to the shore that had a grappling-iron been at hand it might 

 have been secured. It would have been of no avail, how- 

 ever, as the vital spark had long since fled ; but the passage 

 of the body, drawn back with the tide and carried round 

 to Banff, served to reconcile certain apparently conflicting- 

 evidences as to the history of the wreck, or rather as to 

 the spot where it occurred. 



On the occasion of this storm there was deep wailing at 

 Buckie, for in that town there was more than one woman who 

 was widowed by the tempest. Of necessity a fisherman's wife is 

 extremely masculine in character. Her occupation makes her 

 so, because she requires a strength of body which no other 

 female attains, and of which the majority of men cannot boast. 

 The long distances she has frequently to travel in all weathers 

 with her burden, weighing many stones, make it essential for 

 her to possess a sturdy frame, and be capable of great physi- 

 cal endurance. Accordingly, most of the fishwives who carry 

 on the sale of their husbands' fish possess a strength with 

 which no prudent man would venture to come into conflict. 

 Then the nature of their calling makes them bold in manners, 



