White Wing is a 33-foot Baldie, a variety of the Fifie lugsail design popular on the East coast of Scotland. She was built in 1917 by Jas. Cadger at Gardenstown for John Ritchie of Whitehills, Banffshire.

The Ritchie family ownership continued until 1942 when she was sold to Andrew and David Lownie and operated out of Gourdon, near Montrose, at line fishing for haddock and creel fishing for lobsters. She was registered at Montrose as ME113 and continued fishing until the early 1980’s.

In 1986 she was used by the BBC in a television film called “The Shutter Falls”, which was shot in Portsoy. The subject of the film was the Scottish Herring Fishing Industry and the life of the photographic pioneer Robert Adamson who worked locally.

Thanks to the generosity of the BBC she was then acquired by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther and since 1986 she has been lovingly and painstakingly restored to her original dipping lugsail rig by the members of the Museum Boats Club.

We have another photograph of White Wing in the form of a Jigsaw Puzzle.

White Wing at Fisherow Harbour Festival 2019

During the summer months, in company with the Museum’s flagship, Reaper, she is sailed to harbour events around the coast.

In May 2001 White Wing was a member of the flotilla which celebrated the re-opening of the Forth & Clyde Canal and was the first vessel to complete a round trip of the re-opened canal.

She was also present at the opening of the Falkirk Wheel in 2002.

Since then White Wing has visited the canal on a number of occasions to support events on the canal and in June 2012 was visited by Princess Anne at ‘Wheel 10’, the 10th Anniversary of the Falkirk Wheel. At this event she won the award for the furthest travelled boat.

Click for information about the 2015 White Wing refit

White Wing and Fruitful on the way to Portsoy

Since the refit, White Wing has made regular visits to harbours around the East Coast of Scotland, including the Johnshaven Fish Festival and the Portsoy Historic Boats Festival. She also participated in the flotilla to celebrate the opening of the Queensferry Crossing in 2017.