101-year-old fishing boat makes her final voyage

A fishing boat over one hundred years old has made her final voyage to her new home. See all the pictures here.

Harvest Reaper moves to new home. Image: Burghead Visitor Centre

The local authority had insisted the Harvest Reaper should be moved in order to make way for a £220,000 industrial development at Burghead harbour.

Owner David Meldrum was warned the 20-tonne vessel would be scrapped if it was not moved from the quayside spot it had occupied since the 1980s.

Earlier this year though, the boat was saved as the Burghead Headland Trust stepped in to preserve it as a tribute to the region’s fishing heritage.

The Harvest Reaper, which built in 1904, was moved to the harbour entrance at the south of the village.

The Trust today (16 October) move the boat to her new home, as you can see in the picture gallery above.

Harvest Reaper moves to new home

Burghead community leader and trust member Dan Ralph said: “It has been a lot of logistics, finding the right place, but it has been worth it.

“When you destroy history it never comes back. We had very little time to save her. She was going to be broken up a few days after I got involved.

“The council gave us a week’s reprieve and we managed to put off her execution.

“She will be fine where she is going on the north foreshore.

“There will be an information board with quite a bit of her history so people can read and learn about the story behind her.

“She is going to look good. She will be tarred and will be there for all to see for the next 100 years anyway.

“It is a public way along there, so people should be able to get a really nice view of her.

“It is a very pleasant area and lots of people walk it, so she will be grand there.”

YBW