We are very grateful to Ronnie Young of Sandwick, Shetland, for sharing his memorabilia with us. We will be publishing his collected material about Campbeltown-built boats in various entries here on the online archive. In this entry we are publishing three photos of the signing of the contract for the Wave Sheaf LK 134 (Yard No.80) and the Defiant LK 371 (Yard No. 79), another boat bound for Shetland. The contract was signed by the respective skippers in late December 1986, between Christmas and New Year.
I worked on the Wave Sheaf for a year and a half as a marine engineer along with Peter Reid, the other engineer on the boat. I did my training at W Moore and Sons Engineering Works in Scalloway. I knew the Goodlad family, who had previously been fishing with a boat called Unison LK 645. Tommy Alex Goodlad decided to build a new boat at Campbeltown Shipyard and so we were up and down to Campbeltown like a yo yo. It was some journey. Sometimes we’d fly to Glasgow and then hire a car and drive from there. The Brereton was there when we visited the yard.
They were all fine chaps at the shipyard – I remember Douglas McNaught and Adam McClelland. We knew Leslie Howarth as well but Leslie was often away travelling to get the orders for boats in. We got on fine with everyone at the yard and in the town. I liked Campbeltown. I remember one time we had a night out with the Navy Seals.
The Wave Sheaf was launched on 20th November 1987. She was an awful good sea boat, like all the Campbeltown boats.
I’m still at sea, fishing for lobsters and crayfish on a boat called the Cornucopia LK 372, a Cleopatra boat from Trefjar, in Iceland, and we fish around Shetland, Fair Isle and Orkney.
Ronnie Young, Shetland
Tommy Alex Goodlad, Skipper of the Wave Sheaf, Leslie Howarth, Managing Director of Campbeltown Shipyard and Magnus Stewart, Skipper of the Defiant. The signing of the contract for the Wave Sheaf and the Defiant, late December, 1986. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Young.
Standing L-R: Andrew Goodlad, Peter Reid, Ronnie Young, Gordon Jamieson, Brian Anderson, David Riley, Sitting L-R: Tommy Alex Goodlad (Skipper) and Leslie Howarth, Managing Director at Campbeltown Shipyard. The signing of the contract for the boat, late December, 1986. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Young.
Standing L-R: Gordon Jamieson (Wave Sheaf), Ronnie Young (Wave Sheaf), Peter Reid (Wave Sheaf), Brian Anderson (Wave Sheaf), David Riley (Wave Sheaf), Raymond Arthur (Defiant), Larry Polson (Defiant), Bobby Sunderland (Defiant), Andrew Irvine (Defiant), Peter Neil Sandison (Defiant), Gordon Irvine (Defiant). Sitting L-R: Andrew Goodlad (Wave Sheaf), Tommy Alex Goodlad (Wave Sheaf), Leslie Howarth (Campbeltown Shipyard), Magnus Stewart (Skipper Defiant), Jimmy Stewart (Defiant). The signing of the contracts for the Wave Sheaf and the Defiant, late December, 1986. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Young.
Letter to Ronnie Young, engineer on the Wave Sheaf, from Leslie Howarth, managing director of the Campbeltown Shipyard, inviting Ronnie to the launch of the boat. Sent on 28th October 1987. Courtesy of Ronnie Young.
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