Silver Darlings Silver Darlings Silver Darlings is a 1947 British film about Scottish fishermen, based on a 1941 novel by Neil M. Gunn. The film is set in the early 19th century and after the highland clearances. Catrine and her family, like many other dispossessed Scots, turn their hands to Herring fishing (the so-called Silver Darlings of the title). Catrine's husband is press-ganged into the Royal Navy and dies at sea. Catrine is left widowed with a young son to raise. After some time, Roddy proposes to Catrine, but her son Finn, now older, is very upset about the engagement and everyone
Fishing industry in Scotland line fishing was similar to small line fishing but was undertaken in deeper waters, further out to sea. The lines could be up to in length and would be fitted with 5,000 hooks. The fishermen usually baited the lines on the boat. Because of the work involved in preparing and hauling the lines, new methods of catching white fish were sought. Trawling was introduced into Scotland from England in the late 19th Century and, from the 1920s, seine-netting was introduced from Denmark. The First World War interrupted the growth of the industry with many fishermen enlisting the Royal Naval Reserve.