06/04/2026
I really enjoyed reading this ###
My name is Jim, I'm 75 and I'm the Harbourmaster at St. Monans and Pittenweem.
When I was 15, I left Waid Academy and put my name down at Millers which was a boat yard in St. Monans which is gone now, you can look it up online if you want. They built boats for almost 200 years up until the early 90s. So I goes in for this joiners job, only to be told that someone else got it despite my name being down for months. As I was walking out, the boss, Jimmy Miller, asked the foreman "Tam, are we needing an engineer" the foreman says "Davies leaving soon, so get a haircut, take that earring oot and get those rings aff and you start on Monday"
"Nah I never had an earring in, I made that up". We all let out a big laugh at that.
"Because we were working with lathes and other machinery, it was forbidden to wear jewellery, far too dangerous, this was in 1966. Lots changed since then of course.
I became a marine engineer afterwards where I served my time for 5 years, my plan was to join the merchant navy but that all changed when I met my Irene, her words to me were "if you're going off to the merchant navy, am no waiting on you" so the opportunity came to go to the fishing, the wooden boat building industry was going into a decline, fishermen didn't want these boats anymore, they were leaning towards steel hulls, they're bigger, stronger and had more room. So Millers started to lay off, including my brother who was a shipwright. Which for him was a good thing because he ended up at Rosyth, and worked on the submarines, eventually becoming management there, he's retired now of course.
So one day, I get a knock at the door at my flat in St. Monans and it was the skipper of a boat that I helped to build at Millers, The Random Harvest. "Jim, I hear you're getting paid off, there's an opportunity to go to the fishing, if you're uncle can do it, you can" was the words he used. He promised to triple my wages, because in those days I was on £34 a week. So I said "let me discuss it with Irene and I'll get back to you" Irene told me "if you don't like it, you'll find something onshore"
Jobs were hard to come by for a marine engineer in wee fishing villages, so a move to a factory in Glenrothes or that was a reality. I took my fortnight holiday and gave the decision to join the 5 man crew, there was more men on boats then, they didn't have big net drums, we had to pull that in by hand then. I was in charge of the engine and I'd gone to get supplies at Millers and was asked by someone "why did you leave" I said "I was waiting on the hand on the shoulder and a thank you" and the boy said "you weren't getting the sack" but what could I do? Was it fate? I didn't have any regrets because I was well paid now.
Well I do, the only regret I've ever had in my life was leaving it too late to give up the fishing, because I spent a lot of my life away from home. I never saw my wife, Irene, as much as I would have if I hadn't worked at sea. She died in 2023 and I would be at sea for almost a fortnight and then if be back for a few days before going back out again and so that's something that stays with me, especially now"
Jim was full of tales so for that reason, I've split his story into 2 parts.
Here is part 2;
https://www.facebook.com/share/1AfL24WanL/
