I’m a gutting quine….

Whilst touring on Orkney and Shetland I discovered about the lives of the ‘gutter women’.

“I’m a ‘gutting quine’ and my life is a hard one.

My husband works on the herring boats out of Lerwick on Shetland…. It’s a hard and dangerous life for him but it’s the only work available to him. He’s a brave laddie.

My lot is a different one.

When the first herring shoals are spotted by the ‘huers’ off the coast of Shetland, I walk from my fathers croft down to the port of Uyeasound to meet my friends, Ella and Janie.

This year we had to wait for two days before the first ‘sixers’ and ‘eighters’ appeared laden with their catch. The men raced each other to our shore as we pulled up our skirts and waded out into the cold shallow waters. With the waves lapping at us we scooped the fish out of the small boats hull and passed them up to the beach where they were deposited into the waiting barrels of salt water and onto the gutting benches.

As soon as the boat was emptied, we waded up to the shore and grabbed our knives……. Gutting is a horrible job! I’ve been doing this work for 4 seasons now, and I’m quick enough to earn some good coin.

As the carts pull up to our benches with their awaiting barrels, we gut the fish and throw them in….. the barrels and then the carts fill up quickly.

After the days work, we collapse with exhaustion in one of the crude shacks on the shoreline. Conditions are harsh but we girls make do…. The pay is good.

After three days, we’ve earnt enough to pay for passage to Lerwick, where the process begins all over again… and then onto Stromness and Thurso…. It’s a short ‘gutting’ season for us, as we follow the shoals around the coast of Northern Scotland.

Last year I almost lost my hand. I had vigorously gutted a herring… my knife slipped causing me to cut my hand. It was deep and I thought that infection would take it. Luckily Lerwick ( which is where it happened) had a small infirmary and they stitched me up nicely.

It’s cold work, dirty and smelly work…… but the friendship that I have with the other lasses makes it worthwhile. My husband, Kenneth, has asked me to stop and I will……. Perhaps next year ”

Join me on tour in 2023

https://www.seymourtravels.co.uk/scottishislands2024

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