James Kay (abt. 1730 - 1765)

Died 21 Jan 1765 at about age 35 in Crail, Fife, Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Alan Runciman [send private message]

Biography

This biography was partly auto-generated by a GEDCOM import supplemented with research by Alan Runciman, a 4th gt-grandson of one of the men drowned at Crail.

Birth

Birth:

User ID: BB9FC946-95D9-4554-9787-770CCB8A230E

Record ID Number: MH:IF14

Date: EST 1730

Occupation

James was a fisherman based at Crail. There were many fishing boats working from the harbour with the waters around the Isle of May opposite well-known as a rich fishing ground. The usual catch was herring but also mackerel, crab & lobster were brought ashore at Crail. At the time of his drowning James was on an 8-crew boat believed to be skippered by William Runciman. This is concluded by the order of names listed on the Register of the Dead as it was the custom that the skipper was always named first on a crew list.

Those who drowned together were :

William Runciman/Runseyman/Runsheman

James Dewar

John Brown

Andrew Taylor

Henry Burn/Burns

James Keay/Key/Kay/Kae

Thomas Cunningham

John Ramsey/Ramsay

Different spelling variations are shown as they have appeared in the Parish Records & The Widow's Fund.

Death

Death:

User ID: ECBCAA35-554F-4BB4-A067-483707B38D1D

Record ID Number: MH:IF15

Date: 21 JAN 1765

Place: Crail, Fife, Scotland

Cause: Drowned 'in the mouth of the harbour while going a-fishing' along with 7 others.

The somberly titled 'Register of the Dead' from Crail Parish Church.

The entry ^[1] reads:

'This morning were drowned in the mouth of the Harbour as they were going a-fishing the following eight persons viz

William Runcyman, James Dewar, John Brown, Andrew Taylor, Henry Burns, James Kae, Thomas Cunningham, married persons and John Ramsay unmarried,'

A 250th anniversary commemoration for the drowned fishermen was held by the descendants of the 8 fishermen in Crail on 16 May 2015. See Crail Fishing Disaster page for the known history and further information.

Record ID Number

Record ID Number: MH:I7

User ID

User ID: DAD1099C-885C-414D-A656-57FB53CCCE2B

UPD

UPD 04 NOV 2013 14:21:00 GMT+-0

Sources

1. ↑ Register of Scotland File Ref GD 26/12/25

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Alan Runciman for creating WikiTree profile Kay-902 through the import of Crail Disaster 041113.GED on Nov 4, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Alan and others.