Continued from previous post Five Men Drowned – Two Recovered

…two of the bodies that had become entangled with the buoys and lines were washed ashore, but the other three remain unrecovered.
Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser, 16 February 1872, p3, c3

The Three Buried at Sea

Of the five men who drowned when their boat was overturned near Rattray Head on 9 February 1872, the bodies of Charles Bruce (40), and father and son, Alexander (50) and Andrew (20) Strachan, were never recovered.

Charles Bruce

Charles was the son of fisherman Andrew Bruce and Margaret Buchan. He was one of at least eight siblings who grew up in the small fishing cottage of 35 St Combs.

He married Mary Strachan on 23 February 1854 and by 1871, they had at least seven children. They were all recorded living at number 99 (East Row) on the 1871 census.

After the tragedy, Mary appears to have remained at no. 99. She was recorded there in the 1881 census with two of their sons, Andrew (13) and William (10), her visiting daughter Jane (24) and infant granddaughter Mary Stephen (4 months). Daughter Mary was working as a servant a few doors away (house 95).

All of Charles’ children appeared to have either worked in the fishing industry, or married fishermen and remained nearby, except Mary, who married printer/compositor James Joss in 1886 and emigrated to Canada c1912.

(A memorial for Charles and Mary was erected by their family in the Lonmay Kirkyard.)

Alexander and Andrew Strachan

Alexander and Andrew Strachan were father and son.

Alexander was the son of Andrew Strachan and Jane Greig. He married Margaret Whyte on 4 October 1846 at Lonmay.

Alexander and Margaret’s son Andrew was born about 1850 and grew up in St Combs with his three younger siblings, Barbara, Gordon and John, before following in his father’s footsteps to become a fisherman.

After the deaths of her husband and son, Margaret remained at 85 East Street until at least 1891. In the 1901 census, she was recorded at 19 East Street with her daughter Gordon (yes, daughter!), who had stayed with her mother since the tragic event.

Eldest daughter Barbara married fisherman Andrew Noble in 1875. They lived at nearby Cairnbulg (no 60) with their four children for most (if not all) of their lives.

Youngest son John stayed in the area but did not appear to remain in the fishing industry – he was recorded as a tailor in 1881, a carter in 1891, and a butcher’s labourer in 1901. He had married young Elizabeth Ann Buchan in 1890 and they had a daughter, Maggie Ann.

Next post: Five Men Drowned – One Survivor