The Boy Andrew, BF592
HISTORY & HERITAGE
G. Melvyn Wood
The Boy Andrew, BF 592, was operated by Joseph Mair, Mount Pleasant, Portsoy.
She was the winner of the Prunier Trophy in 1936.
The Boy Andrew in cartoon, returning to Portsoy in 1936 with much celebration.
My great grandfather, Joseph (Shavie) Mair (1874-1949), took charge of his first steam drifter in 1907. She was named the Daisy, BF1016, which he part owned with his brother-in-law William Sutherland. The Daisy was the very first steam drifter to work out of Portsoy. At the end of hostilities, many newer vessels which had been built by the Admiralty for war service became available for fishing, as had been intended when they were designed. Those boats had been built in yards all over the country, some in wood, others in steel, depending on the capabilities of the yard involved. They were known as Standard Class boats, as they were designed to Admiralty standards, their Admiralty names being all connected with features and conditions of the weather or the sea.
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HMD Sunburst was built in steel and launched from Lewis’s yard in Torry, Aberdeen, on 11th November 1918, Armistice Day. Intended as an armed patrol vessel, the Sunburst was launched just too late for war service and was immediately laid up until bought by Joe Mair in 1921. Some Standard drifters retained their Admiralty names all their working life, however Joe renamed his new boat the “Boy Andrew”, after his youngest son Andrew who was ten years old at the time. She was allocated the fishing number BF592.
This picture taken of the New Harbour shows the Ruby in the foreground. Behind are the Boy Andrew, BF592 and the Overfall, BF590.
Steam drifters were expensive boats to buy and to run. At the same time, the herring which had brought relative prosperity to every coastal village, were becoming harder to find. To make a living the boats needed to be at sea as much as possible. They would start fishing on the west coast and then follow the shoals to Orkney and Shetland, then round the coast, east and south, finishing the season at the East Anglian ports of Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The most successful skippers were hardworking, but they also seemed to have an instinct for finding fish. This instinct my great grandfather and his sons William and Andrew, who formed the backbone of the crew, appeared to possess.
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In the inter-war years, the Government actively promoted herring, as a food for working families in the industrial towns of the UK, because it was cheap and nutritious. By that time, the pre-WW1 markets of Russia and the Baltic ports had largely disappeared. Madame Simone Prunier, a French lady who ran top class restaurants in Paris and London donated a trophy for the biggest single catch of the East Anglian season. This was won by the Boy Andrew in 1936, the first year the prize was awarded. Included in the prize was an all-expenses paid trip to London for the crew, who were wined and dined, and shown the sights. They brought home with them the Prunier Trophy, which was displayed for a year in my grandfather’s grocer’s shop in Church Street, as well as a mast head weather vane for the boat itself. There was also a cash prize for each crew member. The haul of herring amounted to 231 crans. In fact, they caught far more fish than that on the night, so many they could not take them all on board. As was custom, the surplus was given to another, local boat, but that part of the catch could not be recorded in the total haul.
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Joe Mair never liked to admit that he was not actually on board the boat on the night of the big catch. Instead he was home in bed in Portsoy, suffering from the flu. The skipper on that occasion was his son William. However, on receiving the phone call with the big news, he made a quick recovery and was off on the train post-haste to celebrate with the crew. The party in London was also not to be missed, and Joe was wined and dined with the rest of them.
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When the Second World War was declared, the Boy Andrew was requisitioned for war service. Having missed her chance the first time round, the Admiralty was determined to get its due. Joe Mair sailed the Boy Andrew to Rosyth in 1940, and handed her over. The Portsoy crew was not required. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for on 9 November 1941 the boat was involved in a collision with the Orkney mailboat SS St Rognvald, in the Firth of Forth. The Boy Andrew sank off Inchkeith Island, with the tragic loss of the whole naval crew. Portsoy’s most successful drifter was destined never to return to her home port.
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