History of Leith, Edinburgh

Two submarine wrecks, believed to be uncharted WWI German U-boats, have been discovered by chance off Orkney.
A team working on a Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) tug made the find during a routine sonar survey. for more click here

The Shore showing the Old and New Ship Hotels,Bernard St and the King’s Wark

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WITH A WEE BIT OF BACKGROUND

Inasmuch as my original intention started out simply to record details of the boats which linked my family connection to fishing, it became somewhat bogged down with the innumerable changes of vessel Name(s), Ports, Owners and eventual demise of these craft it became quite obvious that the cold and indifferent list of particulars forming part of this work would make rather fatuous reading and could not be logically presented without associating some informational knowledge regarding the men who made these trawlers a reality, the crew, shore support staff and so many others dependant and depending on the success of such ventures which like most things progressed from relatively small beginnings to become a major business in the national economy. Therefore my story spread further a field to include a little bit of insight to the broad outline of what goes on behind the scenes – when someone goes into a fishmonger to buy a pound of nice fresh fish fillet, do they ever imagine the real effort or cost expended to get it there in the first place!. (more…)

A Full, True and Particular Account of the Melancholy Loss of the British Convict Ship AMPHITRITE, on the evening of Saturday last, the 31st August, 1833, off Boulogne, when 108 Female
Convicts, 12 Children, and 13 Seamen met with a watery grave, in sight of thousands, none being saved out of 136 Souls but Three !—Taken from this day’s Observer.

BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, 1st Sep. 1833.—

for more click here

The battle of Texel 1653 by Van de Valde

This would have been the type of Ship seen in Leith Harbour durinf the 17th century.

Christian Salvesen (1827-1911), shipowner and whaling entrepreneur, was born on 8 March 1827 at Mandal, Norway, the eighth child of Thomas Salvesen, a merchant shipowner. He was trained as a shipbroker in Stettin and Glasgow before joining his father’s firm in 1846. Five years later, he married Amalie Andorsen, daughter of Gulow Andorsen, a leading Mandal shipbuilder, and they had four sons and three daughters. Salvesen then moved to Leith, where his brother, a broker in nearby Grangemouth, financed a partnership (Turnbull and Salvesen, 1853-1872) with George Turnbull. After a slow start in broking, they prospered, importing timber from Salvesen’s extended family and exporting coal from Turnbull’s Scottish connections. for more click here

Now Brave Captain Gordon’s Come,
And brought more Prizes with him home
Let’s Drink a Cup full to the brim,
In a Health to Captain Gordon,
Because where ever he appears,
He clears Our Coasts of Privateers,
Makes Merchant Ships Trade without fears
Through out the Northern Ocean.
for more click here

George Wishart 1513-1546

George Wishart preached at South Leith Church with John Knox before his execution at St Andrews in 1546 on the Orders of Cardinal Beaton

Charles I not only played golf on Leith Links in 1641 but his coat of Arms can be seen at South leith Church above the West Porch.