THE FISHING-BOAT HARBOURS OF FRASERBURGH, SANDHAVEN AND PORTSOY, ON THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND. (INCLUDES PLATE AND APPENDICES)

J WILLET
1887 Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers  
ALONG the whole line of coast lying between the Firth of Forth and Cromarty Firth, at least 160 miles in length, little natural protection exists for fishing-boats. The remarkable development, however, of the herring-fishery, during the last thirty years, has induced Harbour Boards and owners of private harbours, a t several places along the Aberdeenshire and Banffshire coasts, to improve the shelter and increase the accommodation of their harbours, in the design and execution of which works
more » ... Author has been engaged for the last twelve years. FIXASERBURGH HARBOUR. Fraserburgh may be regarded as t,he chief Scottish port of the herring-fishery. In 1854, the boats hailing from Fraserburgh during the fishing season were three hundred and eighty-nine, and in 1885 seven hundred and forty-two, valued with their nets and lines at S'255,OOO ; meanwhile the revenue of the harbour increased from 51,743 in 1854 to 59,281 in 1884. The town and harbour are situated on the west side of Fraserburgh Bay, which faces northnorth-east, and is about 2 miles long and 1 mile broad. The harbour is sheltered by land, except between north-west and eastsouth-east. The winds from north round to east bring the heaviest seas into the harbour. The flood-tide sets from Kinnaird Head, a t the western extremity of the bay, to Cairnbulg Point at the east, with a velocity of 24 knots an hour ; and the ebb-tide runs in a north-easterly direction from the end of the breakwater. The harbour comprises three basins along the foreshore, two of which, the North and South Harbours, were constructed under the Act of 1818. The third, or Balaclava Harbour, was constructed in 1851 , (Plate 6, Fig. 1 ). Four piers surround the basins, having an aggregate length of about 3,700 feet, built of stone, partIy dry and partly in mortar. The entrance from the sea to the North Harbour is 70 feet wide, and to the Balaclava Harbour 95 feet; ;the inner entrance from the North Harbour to the South Harbour is 40 feet wide. Till the erection of the new breakwater, the Korth and Balaclava Harbours were so much exposed to the Downloaded by [ Purdue Univ Lib TSS] on [16/09/16].
doi:10.1680/imotp.1887.21295 fatcat:bpa6beewinc3dbtz5xctrloab4