THE REAPER, the 21-metre-long flagship of the collection of historic craft held by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, is to participate in the national heritage programme this weekend.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has organised the initiative to take place tomorrowand Sunday in celebration of its distributing a total of £500bn to heritage projects and, as one of the recipients, the sailing herring drifter has been invited to participate.

The 106-year-old fully restored historic Fifie herring drifter, which is registered by the National Historic Ships Committee as part of the core collection of historic vessels in the UK, currently operates as a museum ship.

Purchased by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in 1975 and restored to its traditional sailing configuration as a two-masted sailing lugger, much as it would have appeared when first going to sea in 1902, it is one of the last authentic survivors of that type of vessel, once plentiful on the east coast of Scotland.

It holds the record catch for Shetland of 233 cran—almost 250,000 herring.

Reaper will be welcoming members of the public on board free of charge at its berth in Anstruther harbour and visitors will be able to enjoy the sight and feel of the former fishing vessel and see the equipment and clothing used by its crew in years gone by.

Jim Main, chairman of the Scottish Fisheries Museum’s boats club, whose members maintain and act as the crew of the historic craft, said yesterday, “We hope people will come along for a fun and free day out to see what we have achieved and to join us in celebrating the heritage on our doorstep.”

Admission to the museum will also be free over the weekend, it having benefited from major funding for its Zulu Gallery which opened in 2000.