MARINE ART
Working With by Bill Mearns y interest in ships and rhe sea has been lifelong. G oing back to my earliest memories I can recall being fascinated by rhe activities of my paternal relatives, fis hermen our of Montrose on rhe east coast of Scotland. I was raughr rhe rudiments of sailing a small lugsail beach boar by my grandfather when I was ten years old. M y fa ther, D avid M earns, took me to see vessels being built or under repair in dry-dock and taught me to row in the River South Esk, rhus whetting m y appetite for things maritime. H e had settled in Dundee, where there was a well established ship building industry. M y grandfa ther, also D avid Mearns, was rhe mas ter of the steam drifter South Esk, regisrrarion number M E 19 5, which carried our a rescue in a fi erce three-day storm in the N orrh Sea saving rhe crew and their vessel, rhe steam drifter Yarm outh. As a result, he was awarded rhe RNLI Silver M edal in 19 13, in due course left to me. M y uncle, Andrew M earns, was also a fisherman, harbour pilot and lifeboat coxswain ar Montrose. His son Andrew rook
M
The Gravesend shrimper M arigold goes about her business, close-hauled in moderate weather.
As it occasionally must happen amongst the fishing fleets, the steam drifter So uth Esk, skippered by the author's grandfather David Mearns, went to the rescue of a fellow fisherman, the steam drifter Yarmouth, during a fierce storm in the North Sea in 19 13. Both the crew and the vessel were rescued, for which Captain Mearns was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal.
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SEA HISTORY 92, SPRING 2000