When musician Richard Wemyss researched the history of his East Neuk home he was staggered to discovered a tale of tragedy.
The first owner of his house in Cellardyke was part of a fishing crew from the village which was lost in a storm more than a century ago.
He was so touched by the story of the loss of 10 men, which devastated the community and left 27 children fatherless, he composed a suite of music to commemorate them, which will be performed for the first time on Friday, March 10.
All hands went down with the Bernicia steam line fishing vessel after she left Anstruther on February 12, 1900, with her Cellardyke crew of eight and two engineers from North Shields, to where it was registered.
She was known to be heading east of the Isle of May and was expected to land within a week.
However, violent storms swept in and the boat was never heard of again, the only wreckage, a life belt and name board found off the Farne Islands.
Richard said: “For a generation afterwards all February storms were known in the East Neuk as the Bernicia Storms.
“This was not only a local tragedy as a fortnight of storms wrecked dozens of vessels and multiple lives were lost.”
Before his death at sea Daniel Henderson had lived where Richard, also an artist and historian, now calls home and his story inspired Richard to delve further into the tragedy of more than a century ago.
Richard said: “Daniel was a successful boat owner and had no reason to be on the Bernicia except that his son-in-law Thomas Watson was the skipper. Many of the crew were related to him too.”
The other Cellardyke men lost were Alexander Boyter, Alexander Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Alexander Murray, James Stevenson and the youngest of the crew, 18-year-old Thomas Ritchie.
The suite of music, based on traditional folk styles, has themes for each of the crew and the boat departing for fishing, with the mood changing through the storm.
It will receive its premiere at the concert in Anstruther Parish Church, complemented by projections of film and images giving the background to the loss of the Bernicia.
Accompanying Richard on the fiddle will be Lydia Barber, also on the fiddle, Rachel Gary, on small pipes, guitarist Colin Allison, bassist Dick Halley and percussionist Mike Aitken.
Supporting acts will be Richard Parkinson, John Moncur and Demi Forsyth.
Money will be raised for the Scottish Fisheries Museum Boats Club and St Ayles Church.
Tickets are available from Lisa’s Ice Cream Parlour, Shore Street, and on the door.
