Continued from previous post: Five Men Drowned – Three Buried At Sea
One Survivor
Of the six men who were aboard when a heavy wave swamped a fishing boat on 9 February 1872, James Buchan was the only survivor.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to determine exactly WHO this man was since, unlike the men who did not survive, the newspapers gave no information that could narrow this down. No age, marital status or family information for James was mentioned in any of the articles. There were at least 20 James Buchans recorded in the Lonmay area on the 1871 census. Even after ruling out the ones who were below the age of 15 and above the age of 60, we are still left with 10 possible James Buchans that could have survived that fateful night. So, sadly, this is where the search must end.
And what about those links to my own family?
Disappointingly, I’ve also not been able to find any direct link to any of the fishermen involved in this tragedy. If I do manage to find any connection in future, I’ll be sure to update. (See connections update here)
Posts in this series:
Five Men Drowned
Five Men Drowned – Two Recovered
Five Men Drowned – Three Buried at Sea
Update: Five Men Drowned – Connections
So difficult in this situation not to get a conclusion
So annoying! I know that they are related distantly, just need to make sure they’re the correct connections with so many Buchans, Strachans and Bruces in that area. 🙂