Visit to Lawrence Tulloch - 3^rd February 2015

I was referred to Lawrence Tulloch by an acquaintance made during my first visit to Shetland in 2013. I knew nothing of Lawrence at the time of travelling North this time, but on board the (much delayed) ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick, I bought a book entitled “Shetland Folk Tales” as useful background reading on the trip. It was my wife who later looked at the cover page and spotted that the author was the same Lawrence Tulloch who I had arranged to meet. Good preparation then.

Arriving at Lawrence nd Margaret Tulloch's house in North Roe on the North Mainland, after a welcoming tea and cake, I asked Lawrence what he could tell me about Gloup and sixareen fishing. The interview, which was recorded, lasted in formal terms about an hour. Much interesting background was obtained, including pointers to other avenues and people to follow up or contact.

Many of Lawrence's ancestors were connected with the fishing – the family being originally from Yell. Three short extracts are presented here.

Firstly sailing technique –play extract

It was interesting to hear about how the “man at the sail” worked in a semi-autonomous fashion. In Lawrence's words he was, at times, “more important than the skipper”. Part of my research aims was to learn more about how the sixareens operated. For any uninitiated readers a “sheet” is the rope that helps control the sail.

The second short extract  is when Lawrence discusses the distance from land the the far Haaf (distant ocean) fishermen travelled. That distance is commonly quoted as 40 miles or more. He references a discussion with Duncan Sandison (of whom more in a later blog entry) where Duncan expresses some doubt as to the distance covered. The height quoted forShetland's highest hill is 1500 feet. There is a basic navigation formula which gives the theoretical distance from which an object of a known height can be seen. (The square root of the height in feet, multiplied by 1.17 gives the distance in nautical miles.)

This formula gives a theoretical distance to see the top of an object of 1500 feet as 54.8 statute miles. Well over the 40 miles often quoted. However, that would be in near perfect visibility and conditions.

The third extract contains the first mention on my visit of the “moderdai”. The dictionary definition is

This would be followed up, and in terms of inspiration for a song or tune was filed away for future reference.