David Skinner, a salmon fisherman from Balintore, had a narrow escape from drowning in February 1938. While letting out the anchor, his foot became entangled in the rope and he suddenly found himself at the bottom of the sea, a depth of about thirty fathoms of water. David didn’t panic and managed to free his foot from the rope and swam to the surface. He came up beside a boat and the four crewmen pulled him aboard and took him immediately ashore. David has been in bed suffering from shock, but is now recovering well.

This was David’s second near miss with the sea, in March 1928, while out with salmon fishing boats, he was involved in a fatal accident. The fishing cobles were towed into the harbour by the motor boat Pearl to save time, the Pearl was operated by Thomas Vass, 25 years old, of 11 Bank Street. David’s boat was the last boat to arrive at the harbour and by that time, with the tide going out, there was not enough water in the harbour for the Pearl to go in, but there was enough for the coble to be rowed in. So Thomas and the Pearl would have to wait for the tide to change, David volunteered to wait with him. While they were waiting a storm blew up and the waves were pounding over the Pearl, they managed to moor the boat against the salmon nets outside the harbour. The waves were  still crashing over the Pearl and the engine became waterlogged and cut out. The people onshore knew the Pearl was in trouble and the motor boat Thrieve, the most powerful motor boat in the harbour, was being prepared to go out in the storm with a hand picked crew, but they had to wait until there was enough water in the harbour.

When the time came for the rescue, with the storm at it’s worst, the Thrieve went out and secured a line on the Pearl and began to tow it home, The Thrieve had entered the harbour but the Pearl was still just outside the harbour mouth when a huge wave capsized her. David Skinner was thrown into the water and when he came to the surface he grabbed hold of the wooden engine housing of the Pearl and hung onto that until he was rescued. Thomas Vass, there was no sign, when his body was picked up later, a cut on his head suggested he’d been struck when the Pearl capsized and was unconscious when he went into the water.