36 Out Visit to Holy Island in 1854, by Dr. Johnston. 



24th. Visited a fisherman dying of consumption. His 

 name was Thomas Cromarty ; and there are many of that 

 surname in the island. They have a tradition that they 

 came a long time ago from the north, and were emigrants 

 from the county of Lord Cromartie. In the year 1765, as 

 well as my informer can remember, there was a storm on the 

 coast, in which the whole body of fishermen residing in 

 Spittal were lost, and many of those in Holy Island. Two 

 of these — master-boatmen — were Cromarties ; and ever since 

 the tribe has been burdensome to the parish, and continues 

 so to the present day. Singularly enough, and a proof of 

 their poverty, there is not a single tombstone to one of the 

 name in the Churchyard. The tombstone is a bad evidence 

 of the condition of a family, and assuming it to be a fair one, 

 we shall conclude that the Wilsons and Greys — large clans 

 here — have held, for generations back, a respectable position 

 in their native place. Their memorial stones are common- 

 place enough, but they are all in good keeping and repair, 

 and the inscriptions are kindly worded. I copied one as an 

 example of their general tenour : — 



" Sacred to the memory of George "Wilson, son of James 

 and Elizabeth Wilson, who died the 8th of November, 1834, 

 aged 49 years. His niece, Elizabeth Haswell, feeling with 

 much sensibility her irreparable loss, has erected this stone 

 as a token of respect." 



The fishing this morning was very indifferent. One boat, 

 which was said to be as well fished as most of them, had ten 

 stones weight of haddock. The fishermen receive from the 

 tacksman 6d. per stone during the summer season, which 

 commences on Good Friday ; and lid. or Is. during the 

 winter, which begins soon after St. Ninian's Fair. They 

 receive 10s. a score for cod and ling, and the fish must 

 measure not less than twenty inches ; all under this length 

 are sold by weight at about 3d. or 5d. per stone. Lobsters 

 are, during winter, sold for 21s. per score, and during 

 summer for 15s. Crabs bring 2s. per score. Hollibut, here 

 called turbot, sells for 2s. 6d. per stone. The real turbot is 

 rarely taken, and is uniformly called " Turbrat." The shore 

 crab is called " Dog crab," and the spiney crab, the " Crow- 

 fish." The Hyas araneus is called " the Tailor," and it is 

 hated because it bites through the nettings of the creuves 

 with ease — as easily, said my informer, as a pair of scissors used 

 by a tailor. The velvet crab is called "the Sooming-crab." 



