William 'Lairdie' Finlayson and Maggie 'Bolt' Patience of Cromarty

William 'Lairdie' Finlayson and his wife, Maggie 'Bolt' Patience, sit in the causeyed (cobbled) yard outside their house at 65 Gordons Lane, Cromarty. 'Bolt' is wearing a striped apron and shawl whilst 'Lairdie' is in a peaked cap and double-breasted jacket. The line is being passed between them, baited, probably with mussels, and fed into the scoo (creel) on the right.<br /> <br /> There was a fishing community at Cromarty at least as far back as the seventeenth century and possibly even earlier than that. The people were distinct from the rest of the town and had their own customs and dialect.<br /> <br /> Fishing boats tended to be small and the men were able to fish close to home. The women prepared the bait and fixed it to the lines and hooks. They even carried the men out to the boats, so they would start the day with dry feet, and brought back the catch in baskets from the boats to the shore.<br /> <br /> This is from of a series of photographs of Cromarty and its fishertown taken c.1910 by William John Smith. Smith was a resident of Cromarty and therefore familiar with his subjects. This made the pictures seem less stilted than many others of the same period.