Pearl fishers may have gone but they’ve still given me something priceless
WRITER MUSSELS IN ON OBAMAS’ HOLIDAY Scuba find inspired book
When one of Barack Obama’s favourite writers unearthed a tiny pearl while scuba diving off Bahrain, she had no idea such a special jewel could once have been found much closer to home.
Julia Stuart, whose dad is from Dunblane, was shocked to discover some of the world’s most stunning pearls had been found in rivers not far from her family’s former house.
She started to research what had happened to Scotland’s once booming freshwater pearl mussel population and the people who had made their living fishing for pearls.
She used what she discovered as the inspiration for her latest novel , The Last Pearl Fisher of Scotland.
And she has thrown her support behind a Scottish Natural Heritage project, Pearls In Peril, which aims to protect Scot land’s few remaining freshwater pearl mussels.
Julia, who had a previous novel chosen as a holiday read for the US president, said: “I didn’t realise you used to be able to fish for pearls in this country until I came home from Bahrain and went to visit my parents, who had moved to Peebles.
“A family friend in the town showed me a necklace she had, a family heirloom, that was made entirely from pearls that had all been found in Scottish rivers.
“I was fascinated – even more so when I found out there were so few pearl mussels left and that pearl fishing had been banned in the UK for almost 20 years. “So the idea for the The Last Pearl Fisher of Scotland was born.”
Julia set about learning everything she could about pearl fishing. She said: “One of the reasons it’s believed Julius Caesar first invaded this country was to get his hands on Britain’s freshwater pearls.
“Until recently, Scotland nd was believed to have the highest hest number of pearl mussel colonies onies in the world and, by the 12th12 h century, there was a market for Scottish pearls across Europe.”
Julia’s research revealed that in 1620 a huge pearl was found in Aberdeenshire and presented to James VI.
After this, the Privy Council of Scotland issued an order declaring that all pearls found in Scotland belonged to the Crown. This law was overturned in 1642 when “commoners” gained the right to fish for pearls again.
Between 1761 and 1764, pearls worth £10,000 were fished from the River Tay and shipped to London. Several years later, the mussels had been so overfished that no new pearls appeared on the market for a hundred years.
There was a pearl rush in the 1860s and Queen Victoria’sctoria s affection for the gemsms sustained demand. The he Crown of Scotland is s studded with freshwater pearls.
Julia, who is based in London, said: “I found out about Little Willie, a large pearl – recently reported to be worthh around £ 100,000 – thatat was found in the River Tay by a fisherman called ed Bill Abernethy in 1967.
“It is still thought to be the largest high- quality Scottish pearl found in living memory.
“Bill told me he used to stand in freezing rivers day in, day out, with this tin jug with a glass bottom and he would look through it while pushing the water away searching for pearl mussels. I’ve based a lot of my main character on how Bill used to work.”
One of the jewellery shops allowed to sell Scottish pearls known to have been harvested before the ban was imposed in 1998, Cairncross of Perth, has Little Willie on display.
Julia’s second book, Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London, was a New York Times bestseller.
She said: “I was living in Cairo when it came out that the Obamas had been given my book as one of their holiday reads. It was quite a thrill to know that.”