Newcastle couple’s passion to preserve ring netting heritage
FOND memories linger of the ring netters chasing herring on Loch Fyne and the Clyde waters - but few have a passion for the boats as deep as Chris Malkin.
As a child in the 1970s, he spent holidays in Kintyre with his family where he would watch, spellbound, fishing boats at Campbeltown harbour. It would take 40 years for Chris to realise his dream - to own his own boat.
When the opportunity came to make his dream reality, he and wife Fiona were running a successful courier business in New- castle, with children at the age when they were leaving the family nest.
Chris and Fiona had holidayed with their own children in Argyll and it was while on a visit to Carradale that they discovered the Shemaron, a former ring net fishing boat, tied up at the pier. Something about her, the elegant lines and her heritage, struck a chord with the Malkins and from then they would seek her out whenever they travelled to Argyll.
Shemaron, originally called the Wistaria, was built at Cockenzie in 1949 for Matt and Billy Sloan of Maidens in Ayrshire. In 1964, the 55-foot boat was sold to Alexander Galbraith of Carradale. It was then her name changed to Shemaron CN244 and she continued to be used as a ring netter before being converted for scallop dredging. After passing to Alexander’s son of the same name, she was eventually sold out of fishing after more than 60 years.
No longer a working boat, she was lying at Tarbert, and in something of a sorry state, when Chris and Fiona eventually bought the boat in 2008.
The dream, however, truly belonged to Chris. Fiona, by her own admission, went along with it, but boats and the sea were alien to her comfortable urban lifestyle.
Gradually, imperceptibly, Fiona too became hooked as they toured the beautiful west coast. ‘When I realised, it came as a bit of a surprise,’ she admitted. ‘I have to say that
Shemaron has now completely swept me off my feet.’
Fiona added: ‘She came along at a time when Chris and I were wanting different things in our lives, with the children grown up. He wanted a croft and I had a hankering for travel.
‘Shemaron gave us a common interest and we are besotted with her.’
This, however, is far from the end of the story for either the Shemaron or the Malkins. Chris and Fiona last year established the Ring Net Heritage Trust, transferring ownership of the Shemaron to this new charity. The aim is to make use of Shemaron as a floating museum, preserving the memory of the ring netters for future generations, hopefully involving other boats in the future.
Restoring and preserving a 67-year-old timber-hulled boat, worked hard for most of her life, is neither cheap nor straightforward.
A good deal of complex restoration work was done before the trust was set up, but since its formation the trust has been awarded a National Historic Ships grant towards work on Shemaron’s hull. Work is now under way to source funding to repair the deck.
Chris explained: ‘Our intention is to preserve the boat as she would have looked when she was working as a ring netter.’
He added: ‘We hope to create an exhibition space in the fish hold and once this is done she might go round coastal ports for, say, two week stints in any one place. If all goes to plan, we might have this in place by next year.’
The story is recounted in a newly-published book, written by Fiona, entitled ‘Shemaron - a beautiful endeavour’, available from bookshops locally.
To find out more about the Ring Net Heritage Trust, and how you might be able to help in a practical way or by donating, visit the www.shemaron.co.uk website.