Fife Folklore, Fishing in Fife - Money Matters

The wey hoose (the stalyard, in Pittenweem) was the weigh-bridge building at the harbour where fishermen congregated daily to walk to and fro, and to conduct a good deal of their business as they walked. It was here they headed for when, tired of being indoors—or getting the worst of an argument at home—they said they would hae tae go along for a look, implying that the boat or the state of the weather needed some attention.

Greein’ the crew was taking on a crew for the next year. The arrangement was made at the end of the year, and although it was informal it was regarded as binding. Only rarely did a man leave during the year except with very good reason, and some men ‘greed year after year to stay on the same boat.

Pairtin‘ was sharing out the money. Everyone worked on a share system, except the men below, the firemen and engineer, who had a weekly wage. Expenses were paid first, and the rest of the money divided in agreed shares to the boat, the gear and the men. Since most men owned their own gear, this meant that each man had in effect, two shares (see half-deal’s man). At the herring fishing, the pairtin’ was done at the end of the season; at the lines it was done at the end of every third trip, and fisherwomen were used to managing their money with this in mind.

The deal was the amount of money to be given to each man. A child of the skipper’s family usually took the money to the crew’s homes, tied in the corners of a red hankie. This was called gaun roond wi’ the deal. Even children of five or six years of age were considered responsible enough for this job.

The word was news of landing, with details of the catch and the prices. This usually came by telegram to the skipper’s wife, and a child then gaedroond wi’ the word. At the herring fishings in the north-east and at Yarmouth, the word came every night, but at the gartlins it came at the end of ten or twelve days. Everyone had plenty of practice in mental arithmetic as they read the telegram and swiftly calculated whether the total was good or bad.

Trot was an extra piece of gartlin’ put in so that the fish from it could be sold separately for pocket money for the crew.

Stoker was the extra money from the fish on the trot line. This never “went through the books”, and the practice had been established for many years before Tax Inspectors looked into it.

Gi’es a rub o’ yer shoother. (Shoulder ) There was always an element of luck in a fisherman’s earnings, and this was a suggestion that good luck might be transferred from one man to another.

Don was a skipper who was always among the top earning men in the port.

Hame tae drap it was the phrase used when the boat came home at the end of one season to change gear and prepare for the next fishing.

Takin’ on, was buying on credit. In bad times the men still had to replace unserviceable gear and most suppliers expected to wait for their money until better times. They were aware that, “If the money disnae come in at the
herbour mooth, it disnae come in at a’.”

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