THE WILL OF DR PETER WILLIAM MACAULAY. I revoke previous wills and codicils and I appoint to be my executor the Rev Michael Armitage of 21 Drummond St, Edinburgh.
In the event of my death I wish my property to be distributed as follows.
1. Split cane three-piece fly rod by Allcocks with Hardy Viscount reel and all ancillary equipment to Ms Anna Richter MacAulay.
2. Beachcasting rod by Abu Svangsta with Penn reel and ancillary equipment to Anna Richter MacAulay.
3. Telescopic spinning rod by Daiwa (with Made in Scotland thistle badge) and Daiwa reel (unbadged but shit, you’ve got to give a bit of business to your economic allies) also to Anna Richter MacAulay with the recommendation that it be used at least once to pursue migratory fish without written consent.
4. Painting titled ‘Bhalaich an Uisge’ dated 1973, by the Lewis artist Donald Smith to remain in the house known as 35 Kenneth Street, if the reverend can clinch the deal to hang on to said house. If not, Anna it’s yours and if you don’t want it, don’t give it to an Lanntair, who have failed so far to show much interest in this local artist’s work but offer it for the public bar in the Lewis Hotel. Smith is a third or fourth cousin of yours, by marriage, via the Griomsiadair connection.
5. Any vessel that may remain in my possession at the time of my death, to be offered to the North Lewis Maritime Society, without condition. They can sell her if there is not sufficient interest in maintaining her. Anna should feel no sense of duty to take responsibility. I love her dearly and am thus aware that she is addicted to windpower and kayaking. I have however made provision with my executor for life membership of Anna to the Stornoway Sea-Angling Club. And also to the Maritime Society, Falmadair. This trust operates several traditional vessels. These two memberships should enable my daughter to sail and fish to her heart’s content without serious personal financial risk.
6. To Kenneth Finlay Macrae of 42 Dumbarton Court, Brixton, London, I leave the set of cooper’s tools which are on display in the kitchen in the Kenneth Street house. These were given to me by a trained cooper who was made redundant. With these go a copy of Morrison’s transcriptions of oral tales, collected by him, in Lewis. He was a schoolmaster turned cooper.
7. To Mairi Sine Nic a Ghobhainn, of Croft no 6, Garyvard, I leave the clothbound notebook which contains my recollections of the transits for fishing marks, located between the Shiant Islands and Tob Lierway, south of Arnish point. There are also drawings of the skylines which should aid identification of the marks. Mairi will know many of these already but I hope this helps pass them on to the children now in her joint care.
8. To Frau Gabriele Richter, I leave nothing because she has already had more than enough stress from disposing of the possessions I accumulated either as an individual or jointly, during a significant part of my lifetime. If it had been in my powers to do so, I would have given her the body of her father to bury or at least a conclusion to that sad story. I think I fully understood the depth of this human need when Seamus MacLean, my mentor in the Coastguard Service, got hold of me to pass on a word of advice during his retirement party. He had a good dram in him but he made this very clear:
‘Keep the search going, Peter, keep it going even after you’ve no hope. I used to dread the night shifts, down at Oban. A woman kept phoning, asking if we’d found her boy yet. Had we tried all the islands? That’s where he must have got ashore.’
9. To all those gathered for this reading I leave the case of white wine and the case of red, selected by Michael. I’m pretty sure I’ll be resting in peace, fully confident that the corks will have been removed or the screwtops turned. The red will be breathing. Which is more than I’ll be doing but please do pause to reflect that at a future date, you will not be breathing either. There will have been no religious observances made during this ceremony. It is, however, my duty to point this out to you at this time. Even though I’m only half a Lewisman, not a Hebridean but a Hybridean.