!["... two men working an average nine hour day an entire week to make [a] foresail..."](https://img4.travelagents10.com/941/242/291847189412423.jpg)
15/09/2021
"... two men working an average nine hour day an entire week to make [a] foresail..."
This 1910 photograph shows a sailmaker's loft in Arbroath. Sailmakers served a five year apprenticeship. They worked to a scale plan, sewing an inch wide seam by hand. It took two men working an average nine hour day an entire week to make the foresail for a fifie, and four days to make a mizzen sail.
In the 19th Century and well into the 20th, many fishing boats were powered by sails. Even some motorised drifters had mizzen sails (sails at the stern of the boat) made of tough canvas. These sails kept the bow of the boat pointing into the wind while she fished. Although the fishermen could make minor repairs, the entire sail was made by a sailmaker.
There has been fishing in Arbroath for centuries, but the industry increased in importance in the 1830s, when fishing families moved into the town from Auchmithie. The fishing fleet expanded, partly because of the better harbour facilities in Arbroath.
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