East Lothian Peeps Into the Past: 1998, 1973 and 1923

25 years ago...

‘SAILING the route of Captain Cook’ was the front page headline in the East Lothian Courier of August 7, 1998.

Farmer Simon Stodart, of Kingston, North Berwick, has set off on a daring circumnavigation of the world under sail, which could take up to three years – and plans to see in the millennium off Cape Horn – reputedly the most dangerous stretch of water in the world.

And Simon, 55, was not put off by the fact that his partner in the venture, Chris Fletcher Fox, is a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian – the naval officer who led the mutiny on the ‘Bounty’ – nor the fact that he had a yacht called ‘Typhoon’ founder in the notorious Bay of Biscay only last year.

“I don’t think I’ll have any trouble with Chris. He’s an old sailing friend,” laughed Simon.

“But we are planning to land at Pitcairn Island where the mutineers landed all those years ago.”

Pitcairn Island was among the planned stops (Image: Google Maps)

and 50 years ago...

FOUR children were rescued from North Berwick Law, reported the East Lothian Courier on August 10, 1973.

Four Prestonpans boys and a girl were rescued from the north face of the Law at North Berwick on Thursday last.

When police arrived at the Law, at about 3pm, they found one boy trapped on a ledge about 20 feet below the others, who were themselves stuck halfway up the face.

The boys were eventually rescued when a rope was lowered 30 feet from a path above where they were trapped.

An emergency fire tender called from Edinburgh was not needed.

The children were John Anderson (9), 49 Drummore Drive; Gillian (11) and Alaister Hughes (13), 6 Preston Grange Terrace; Robert Potter (12), 8 Preston Grange Terrace; and Richard McKeowen (13), 24 North Bank.

and 100 years ago...

A COCKENZIE hero was awarded a medal for rescuing a woman from drowning, told the Haddingtonshire Courier on August 10, 1923.

At the monthly meeting of the Trustees of the Carnegie Hero Fund, at Dunfermline, on Thursday, George Johnstone (18), miner’s drawer, 79 High Street, Cockenzie, who on 23rd March 1923, rescued a woman from drowning in the sea at Swan’s End, Cockenzie, was awarded a silver watch, suitably inscribed, and a sum of £5.

The foreshore the the scene of the rescue is very rocky, and at the time the sea was choppy, and the water from 12 to 15 feet deep.

‘TIGERS of the deep’ were lurking in local waters, said the Haddingtonshire Courier of August 10, 1923.

Several of the Firth of Forth fishing fleet have suffered loss in the last few days, having had both nets and lines destroyed by sharks.

These tigers of the deep have been seldom in evidence in the Firth for several years, and in the opinion of fisherman, their presence is due to the herring shoals being in local waters.