ZULUS AND LINE BOATS
After
the introduction of the scaffie and the fifie came the
zulu, a combination of the best characteristics of both.
Althoughthe Scottish zulus were undoubtedly one of the
finest of British fishing vessels, they unfortunately
had one of the shortest working life-spans.
Once
introduced in the late 1880's, they quickly established
themselves as hardy craft along the southern coast of
the Moray Firth and numbers increased rapidly. However,
steam's impact upon the fleets meant that within 30
years of their introduction the last one had been built.
Towards the end of the 1870's the herring fishery was firmly established as the main fishery in Scotland where some 844 boats landed 87,526 cran on the east coast alone. Although the scaffie was the preferred craft for the fishermen of the Moray Firth many of them fished alongside the much bigger fifies, and realised the advantages in terms of increased catches.
The zulu, then, came about as a hybrid: a scaffie's
raking sternpost, to keep the keel length to a minimum
ensuring the minimum of harbour dues, and the upright
stem of the fifie for grip on the water.
