A decade ago, Pierowall skippers operated some of the most modern white fish vessels in Britain.
The Westray boats had in fact formed the backbone of an Orkney fleet, which had built up quite quickly.
Until the mid-1960s, fishing in Orkney was mainly combined with farming by crofters using inshore boats. But from the early 60s, a change of emphasis started taking place at Pierowall. In 1963 George and Alex Costie started the switch from creels to seine netting by buying the 56ft Chance WK 126 from Donnie MacKay of Wick.
Chance
