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Award: Hugh Lownie Ritchie : Gold Medal Award
APPENDIX 5
Recent Additions
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Three recent poems/songs from Dave Ramsay and P4 Bervie School, linked to Gourdon and/or the sea.
“Alive, Alive” by Dave Ramsay celebrates the rescue in May 2014 of the “Water Rail” and its crew, Jim Reid and Davie Irvine, of Inverbervie. The crew, grandfather and grandson had set out from Gourdon on the morning of the 20th May to tend their creels, became disorientated in fog but were fortuitously rescued on the third day of their ordeal.
1. A creel boat left Gurden harbour, tae the creels it made its way,
Wi’ Jim Reid and Davie Irvine, on the 20th of May.
A swell was running high, as they left the sight o’ land,
The mist and fog closed in, ye couldna see your outstretched hand.
2. By lunchtime that Tuesday morning, of their return there wis nae sign.
The Water Rail had failed to meet, their expected landing time.
On the quayside people gathered, a’ their family and friends,
For hours they waited hoping, for the return of the twa men.
3. The alarm was raised for the coastguards, and twa lifeboat crews,
Montrose, Stonehaven lifeboats called out, nae time to lose.
The wild and rocky coast was searched, frae St Cyrus and Todhead,
A major air-sea rescue was in place to go ahead.
4. Wayne Barbour, Alan Donaldson, alang wi’ Kevin Birse,
And other local fishermen, said the twa men’s lives came first.
They set aside their fishing, took their boats out to sea,
Tae search for Davie Irvine and his grandfather, Jim Reid.
5. Day twa saw Gurdin Harbour on the TV and the press.
The crowd had grown, the mood had changed, the crews they hid nae rest.
Wi’ daylight fading fast, and still nothing had been found,
Day twa had come and gone, and the search it was stood down.
6. For twa lang days the helicopters scanned the shore and sea,
And the search it was abandoned on the mornin’ o’day three.
A scallop dredger oot o’ Buckie, and steaming southward bound,
Found the Water Rail adrift, and the twa men safe and sound.
7. For fifty miles and three hale days, they had been afloat,
‘Twas pure chance that they were spotted by the Buckie fishing boat.
They’d only water, tea and twa biscuits tae keep themselves alive,
But this grandson and grandfather, the baith managed tae survive.
8. The adventure wisnae over yet, as they headed for Montrose,
The Water Rail wa sinking fast, while she was being towed.
A happy ending for the men, a sad one for their boat,
The Water Rail had saved their lives by keeping them afloat.
9. The news they were alive, spread like wildfire roond the toon,
A huge cheer it went up in the P+J Newsroom.
For media fowk and rescue crews, for family and friends,
Sheer joy and happiness now brocht this saga to an end,
10. Some questions still arise, aboot how come they lost their way,
Compass, tides, and ocean swells, a’ hid their part tae play.
When questioned by reporters upon their recue day,
Auld Jim said lobster fishing wis far better in Norway!!
Dedicated to the two Gourdon fishermen, Jim Reid and Davie Irvine lost at sea for two days in May 2014.