Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
ZULU, n. Sc. usage: the name given to a type of fishing-boat common esp. in the Moray and Clyde Firths from c.1880–1905, with fore- and mizzen-masts, straight prow and markedly raked stern, some models being later fitted with motor engines (ne.Sc. 1930 P. F. Anson Fishing Boats 33; Bnff. 1973 Banffshire Jnl. (6 Feb.) 4). Also attrib. Comb. Zulu skiff, a smaller type of Zulu, gen. with only one mast (ne.Sc. 1930 P. F. Anson Fishing Boats 34, 44). See Skiff, n.2Mry. 1884 Trans. Highl. Soc. 122:
Ten or twelve boats of the carvel-zulu shape have been built.ne.Sc. 1906 H. W. Smyth Mast and Sail 104, 112:
William Campbell of Lossiemouth was the first fisherman to attempt to combine the good points of the “Fifie” and the “Skaffie” models. In the year 1878 he got a boat built named the Nonesuch, with the fore stem and bows of a “Fifie”, and the stern modelled on the lines of a “Skaffie”. Fishermen at once dubbed the new model “Zulu”. . . . A good many large ‘Zulu' skiffs have been built at Fraserburgh.Bnff. 1935 I. Bennet Fishermen iii.:
The auld Zulus have had their day. They steamers are a' the go noo.Arg. 1952 N. Mitchison Lobsters on the Agenda vi.:
There were eight drift-net herring boats at Port Sonas, but two of them were old and smaller than the rest, with the Zulu sterns and small, cramped looking wheelhouses, good sea boats in their way, but not near so fast as the new ones.Abd. 1969 Fraserburgh Herald (7 Nov.) 2:
Skippering the “Winsome”, a zulu, and the “Emblem”, a fyffie.
