tide waiter

In 1749, for example, Lord Panmure was asked to obtain a small revenue post of tide waiter for a brother of one of the Angus freeholders.

The laird of Balfunning wanted a tide waiter's place for his son, but Buchanan was clearly not prepared to settle for promises, for he 'insists that he may see his son's commision before the election'.

About a year after his arrival in Sydney, Parkes was hired by the New South Wales Customs Department as a Tide Waiter, and given the task of inspecting merchant vessels to guard against smuggling.

In 1762, for example, Lord Panmure was advised by one of the Angus voters that upon the death of a tide waiter at Montrose, a replacement had been sent there from Alloa or some other place on the Firth of Forth.

Why, for example, would a politician with the wide-ranging interests of Lord Fife lay such pointed emphasis upon the placing of such a minor official as a tide waiter, writing that he wished William King to be appointed at Macduff Down Creek, as opposed to any other location in that district?