MORUMAN
Member
hi everyone, some of you may be interested in the history of this rare fishing boat. from circa 1960 they were manufactured to order in rotterdam and constructed in bs 1500 n8 marine grade aluminium. same spec as the early uk life boats.
my boat is called "moru" ( moari name for shark), and was commisioned by lord steinburg in 1963, registered in rochester and launched at cannes south of france with a mediteranian specification.
she was then moved to otter's ferry on loch fyne in scotland in 1973.
in 1975 lord steinburg sold her to a surveilance company to ferry employees around the scottish sea lochs.
in 1977 the survey co. sold her to gordon stephenson, a motor factor in glasgow, he completely refitted the engines, etc and carried out a cosmetic upgrade, but she still had the mediteranian spec.
in 1980 she was purchased by my two brothers and myself from inverkip marina in greenock, fyrth of clyde.
my two brothers and i were keen sea anglers and we had aquired the ultimate sports fishing boat.
inverkip marina was located only 6 miles from the "gantocks" bank, lies 5 miles off dunoon in 40 fathoms of water. we had fished the winter months with rod and lines, lures, from 1975 in small boats, landing cod and coley ( saith) to 40 lbs +.unfortunately we only got the last 12 months with "moru" as the end of the icelandic scottish sea loch spawning cod run ended. this was due to all the uk boats being kicked out from iceland waters so they took everything from scottish inshore waters and even raided the spawning grounds in the deep sea lochs in winter.
SO we moved to loch ryan and portpatrick and fished there for 2 or 3 yrs.
in 1985 we steamed down to the ribble estuary in preston lancs and put her on the hard at douglas boat yard, the river douglas runs into the ribble.
she then had a major refit which totally converted "moru" from the original med spec to a more suitable spec for the more northerly latitudes.eg: enlarged wheelhouse, fully insulated all external skins, full air heating syst, heavy duty winch, trim tabs, re upholstered, new water htr, etc, etc,
she was moved to iom, ramsey in 1987 and then moored in lamlash bay on arran in 1988, only stayed for 12 months as the fishing had been completely ruined by "buckie" dredge trawlers from cambletown, who completely plough the sea bed for clams and leave a complete state of devastation and a no go area for grazing fish like cod, haddock etc.
SO we moved "moru" to stranraer on loch ryan up to yr 2000 when we moved to the island of bute.
the scottish tourist board did not realise how four boats could stop hundreds of small boat anglers staying away, as well as many more shore anglers. the only boats now in all the sea lochs and the fyrth of clyde are ferries, ALL the fish are gone. ! sorry there are still some mackerall.
the harbour master at rothesay on the island of bute, stev neilson, who became a close friend set us up in his harbour @ £1200 PA, so we stayed there for 11 yrs, we had done all the island treks, eventually realised that there was no fish to be caught anymore, and moved "moru" by road to where she is now in our lancashire building complex, undergoing her third and possibly final refit, this one is everything replaced apart from the engines and bourg warner hydro boxes.
our next destination is holy head on the isle of anglesey, hopefully still one or two fish left and some new ground for our trekking.
what are your opinions on the abuse the sea fishing grounds around our shores receive, and little or no interest from the powers that be. ? MORUMAN. (OH HOW I WISH TO SEE A WORLD THAT STILL HAS FISH IN THE SEA).
my boat is called "moru" ( moari name for shark), and was commisioned by lord steinburg in 1963, registered in rochester and launched at cannes south of france with a mediteranian specification.
she was then moved to otter's ferry on loch fyne in scotland in 1973.
in 1975 lord steinburg sold her to a surveilance company to ferry employees around the scottish sea lochs.
in 1977 the survey co. sold her to gordon stephenson, a motor factor in glasgow, he completely refitted the engines, etc and carried out a cosmetic upgrade, but she still had the mediteranian spec.
in 1980 she was purchased by my two brothers and myself from inverkip marina in greenock, fyrth of clyde.
my two brothers and i were keen sea anglers and we had aquired the ultimate sports fishing boat.
inverkip marina was located only 6 miles from the "gantocks" bank, lies 5 miles off dunoon in 40 fathoms of water. we had fished the winter months with rod and lines, lures, from 1975 in small boats, landing cod and coley ( saith) to 40 lbs +.unfortunately we only got the last 12 months with "moru" as the end of the icelandic scottish sea loch spawning cod run ended. this was due to all the uk boats being kicked out from iceland waters so they took everything from scottish inshore waters and even raided the spawning grounds in the deep sea lochs in winter.
SO we moved to loch ryan and portpatrick and fished there for 2 or 3 yrs.
in 1985 we steamed down to the ribble estuary in preston lancs and put her on the hard at douglas boat yard, the river douglas runs into the ribble.
she then had a major refit which totally converted "moru" from the original med spec to a more suitable spec for the more northerly latitudes.eg: enlarged wheelhouse, fully insulated all external skins, full air heating syst, heavy duty winch, trim tabs, re upholstered, new water htr, etc, etc,
she was moved to iom, ramsey in 1987 and then moored in lamlash bay on arran in 1988, only stayed for 12 months as the fishing had been completely ruined by "buckie" dredge trawlers from cambletown, who completely plough the sea bed for clams and leave a complete state of devastation and a no go area for grazing fish like cod, haddock etc.
SO we moved "moru" to stranraer on loch ryan up to yr 2000 when we moved to the island of bute.
the scottish tourist board did not realise how four boats could stop hundreds of small boat anglers staying away, as well as many more shore anglers. the only boats now in all the sea lochs and the fyrth of clyde are ferries, ALL the fish are gone. ! sorry there are still some mackerall.
the harbour master at rothesay on the island of bute, stev neilson, who became a close friend set us up in his harbour @ £1200 PA, so we stayed there for 11 yrs, we had done all the island treks, eventually realised that there was no fish to be caught anymore, and moved "moru" by road to where she is now in our lancashire building complex, undergoing her third and possibly final refit, this one is everything replaced apart from the engines and bourg warner hydro boxes.
our next destination is holy head on the isle of anglesey, hopefully still one or two fish left and some new ground for our trekking.
what are your opinions on the abuse the sea fishing grounds around our shores receive, and little or no interest from the powers that be. ? MORUMAN. (OH HOW I WISH TO SEE A WORLD THAT STILL HAS FISH IN THE SEA).
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