Unknown boats at Kirkwall Pier

Was going to say they were Norweigen whale catchers,but don't see any with the crows nest on the fore mast,so not so sure what kind of fishing they would be at.Way back in the fifties and early sixties there used to be a few of the Whale catchers that used to work out of Scrabster and Stromness after the whale west of Orkney on the Stormy Bank area in the summer.They were all the same type of vessels that are in your photo Craig.Would say the photo was taken a lot of years ago.
Wully.

m 2 sk are "risø" 89 feet long built 1909 and have a 50 hk union. i think they are longlining at the moment but they use to fish harring whit not /nett and sf 37 sv are "kletten" 78 feet long built 1949 and have a 60 hk wichmann.think the photo are from 1949/52

Thanks for the information Jan, another mystery solved!

Hallo Woolly Farquhar:
Some of these Norwegian boats fitted with harpoon guns where shooting
Basking Sharks just for their livers.
Shoot them bring them alongside cut up their bellies and the liver would float
out- had a brailer to bring them aboard with.
Some sharks would have livers with weighted up to 200/300 Kilos
Used in the cosmetic industries for skin creme