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Gathering limpets for bait and spitting them onto the sea; a...

Date 05 January 1974
Track ID 38446
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1974.1.06

Original Tape ID

SA1974.001

Summary

Gathering limpets for bait and spitting them onto the sea; anecdote about a lost tooth; planting seed by spitting it.

At low tide, limpets would be removed from the rocks using a limpet pick, a knife with a short stout blade. The limpets were taken home and leepit [parboiled]. The fisherman would then head off with his wand [rod], buddy [fish basket] and limpet cuddy [basket made from docken leaves].

The best place to fish was a deep stone with an offshore breeze. The limpets were chewed and sprootit [spat] onto the surface of the sea, the same way as Frank's father sowed his planticrub [stone enclosure for growing kale plants]. The crub was delled [dug] out every year and new earth put in. Kale seed was mixed with bland [whey] and sprootit over the crub. Peat ash from the midden was smoothed over the top and the lot covered with a net. At the craigs, the limpet lume [slick] would spread seaward with the wind and the fish were lured in. Frank recalls how his neighbour lost a large gold tooth in the Muckle Geo while sprooting limpets.

Recording Location

County - Shetland

Parish - Lerwick

Island - Shetland Mainland

Village/Place - Lerwick

Language

English, Scots

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good