On a Sunday afternoon in June 1866, a soggy linen-wrapped package washed ashore on the beach at Skateraw, near Dunbar1(now the site of Torness nuclear power station).
The bundle, tied up in a monogrammed white and blue handkerchief, contained 300 love letters, carefully organized by the date they were received. The letters were postmarked 1861, 1862, and 1863 and had been passed between J.G. Smith Maxwell, Esq. (whose initials were on the handkerchief) and Miss Janet G. Dunlop of Clober.
Mr Smith Maxwell’s address was 42 New Bridge Street, London and Miss Dunlop resided at 13 Gloucester Place, Edinburgh.
Curiously, tucked within the stack of letters was the marriage certificate of James Smith of Craighead and Agnes Graham, daughter of a James Graham, merchant in Glasgow dated 21st November 1815!
Smith and Dunlop were married in August 1863 (the year of the last letter in the bundle) at Janet’s address. It seems that James Smith of Craighead and Agnes Graham were J.G. Smith Maxwell’s parents.
The letters were handed to a Mr Thomson of the local coastguard.
Why did (presumably) J.G. Smith Maxwell throw a bundle of love letters from his now wife and his parents’ marriage certificate into the North Sea?
(James Graham) Smith Maxwell died 4 years later, aged 49. Dunlop would outlive him by 42 years.
References
Fifeshire Journal (21/June/1866) pg. 7
Caledonian Mercury (7/August/1863) pg. 4
Morning Post (17/January/1870) pg. 8
The Scotsman (2/August/1912) pg.12