Black Friday was Scotland's worst fishing disaster. On Friday 14th October 1881, the Berwickshire coastline was devastated by the Great East Coast Storm. The Eyemouth fishing fleet was at sea when the storm broke and, on that fateful day, 189 fishermen lost their lives - 129 of them from Eyemouth (one in three of the adult male population of the town).
The coordinates given are for the Hurkur rocks - where part of the tragedy unfolded. Three boats were hurled against the rocks by the force of the wind and waves as they fought to make their way back to harbour - their crews of 20 men were all drowned in the sight of many hundreds of people on shore who could not render any assistance in any way whatever owing to the severity of the gale and ferocity of the sea.
A comprehensive account of the disaster, and the circumstances leading up to it, can be found in Peter Aitchison's excellent book 'Black Friday' (previously published as 'Children of the Sea'). The book is currently on sale at Eyemouth Museum (which also has an exhibit about the disaster) and the Borders County Library Service also has several copies available for loan.
You will need to obtain a copy of this book and fill in the missing text to get the final coordinates for the cache (which isn't far away):
N55 52.ABC W002 05.DEF
A. From 182_ Westminster allocated an annual sum of £2,500 for harbour development in Scotland.
B. The members estimated that around 200 ships annually used the harbour, which ought to generate net revenue of around £_0 a year.
C. In September 177_ he was badly scarred by a mob of five women when attempting to seize gin which had been washed ashore at St Abbs and which they were helping themselves to.
D. _ weeks and three days after Black Friday the Eyemouth fleet, nineteen boats and one hundred and twenty-nine men short, and led by the ArielGazelle, dropped ropes, hoisted sail and made to the deep once more.
E. The winter haddock fishing off Berwickshire in 1875-76 was the best ever with most crews grossing more than £30 a week between them. Some made more than £_0.
F. All _ crew were saved, and with them the money they had earned from Yarmouth.