Lobster storm

Sir Herbert Maxwell lived at his estate at Monreith,near Port William, Galloway. In his book of memories, written at the age of 88 which was published in 1932,he recalled a great storm that produced lobsters.

"We worked together diligently in the garden. In the old ash trees outside the garden there was a populous rookery which accounts for the memory of our joint labour being indelibly associated with the cawing of rooks and the soft, rich blue of grape hyacinths. The ash trees are no more, they were wrecked in the great gales of 1882-3, and the rooks went with them, but founded a strong colony on the west side of the loch.

"There they remained till a fresh calamity overtook them in the most furious storm in my experience of 22nd December 1894. Scores of rooks were blown into the loch and drowned; others were killed or maimed by falling trees, and cripples might be seen weeks later hirpling through the woods. That gale blew at its height from north-west for not more than an hour and a half; but that was long enough for much mischief. It cost me £2000 to repair the damage done to farm buildings. This was the only occasion on which I have known lobsters to be blown ashore. Crabs, starfishes and other fruitti di mare suffer stranding in every storm; but never before or since have I found lobsters among them.

"On the morning after the gale I went down to the shore to inspect a schooner that had got stranded in the night. The beach was strewn with a great variety of jetsam, including small land birds from the other side of the bay. It was intensely cold, so I did not linger long, but before leaving I picked up eight fine lobsters frozen to death, which I carried home, where they were turned to good account. This served me to disprove the cruel doctrine which, I am told, regulates the cooking of lobsters for restaurants and such like, namely that their shells will not turn red unless they are placed in cold water to be boiled alive. Those that I brought home that day turned when cooked to scarlet as lively as ever was set before a Lord Mayor.

Evening Memories, by the Rt Hon Sir Herbert Maxwell of Monreith. Published by Alexander Maclehose and Co, London. 1932.Page 23-24
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