THE WICK 239 



although several nice pools and streams exist. It winds about in 

 the wide bed of the prehistoric Wick river, and in times of flood it 

 readily overflows its banks. As it approaches the town of Wick the 

 current becomes more and more gentle, and in latter days its waters 

 have here been converted into a boating lagoon by the building of 

 a weir 2ft. Sin. high and about 170ft. longthe breadth of the 

 river at this point. This weir is a short distance above the Bridge 

 of Wick, and the tide reaches it at high water. No proper pass 

 exists at this weir, but in the near future I hope it may be possible 

 for fish to ascend more easily than they have been able to do in the 

 past. 



From this weir downwards through the town of Wick, the river 

 bed, at time of low tide, presents a rather polluted aspect. The 

 town drains into the river here, and the all too familiar habit of 

 throwing miscellaneous refuse into the water is not neglected by the 

 inhabitants. In summer-time when the immense herring fishing 

 industry is at its height, there is a great amount of added pollution. 

 The harbour is also crowded with boats, steam drifters, and cargo 

 steamers. So tightly is the harbour packed at times that the last 

 boat in, must practically be the first boat out, for passing is well- 

 nigh impossible. To watch the outward stream of great brown 

 sails, luffing and filling and tacking about as they clear one another 

 outside the pier-heads, and gradually merge into the blue haze of a 

 summer sea, brings with it a wondrous fascination. At Wick the 

 sailing of the boats goes on for hours, and if one is quite at the pier- 

 heads one almost loses the smell, the all-pervading smell, of herring. 



The Town Council constructed an additional weir some few years 

 ago, at the inner end of the tidal basin apart from the harbour 

 for the purpose of forming a second lagoon in order to store boats 

 which otherwise would block up the harbour. This has now, how- 

 ever, become disused as it interfered with the town's drainage, and 

 itself soon became particularly foul. A new scheme of harbour 

 construction has, therefore, been proceeded with. Harbour construc- 

 tion is a sore subject in Wick. Since 1810, when the first harbour 

 was formed for 14,000, there have been many disasters and much 

 rebuilding. The British Fisheries Society, which was founded in 

 1786, has played a prominent part in those Wick transactions. 

 Disasters with great loss of life occurred in 1845 and 1848. In 1862 

 a large harbour and breakwater was commenced, but year after year 

 great portions were knocked clown by the heavy seas which sweep in 

 here from the east. The British Fisheries Society spent about 



