4.30 am after steaming one hundred miles west of Newlyn and flat calm about to shoot 24 baskets of long lines in the summer of 1979........
skipper Bill Tonkin (left) hurls a set of readings (a fish tally with the Decca numbers of the area the lines are set wrapped round a potato and held with a rubber band) watched by Porthlevener Billy Pyle.........
hopefully the huge French trawler, Mojenn CC291718 will acknowledge the position of the lines and steer her trawl clear - a big trawler could wipe out a longliner's entire set of gear in a matter of hours if you were really unlucky........
back to work and in such calm conditions skipper Bill just couldn't help but come out on deck and help out - on the hauler is George Richards who's uncle was a Titanic survivor.......
and get the gaff out to catch a 'floater'.........
bending down gutting is Pothlevener, 'Kipper', check out the size of the fish, especially the big ling 'a git louster' - selective fishing at its best.........
the following are all saved from different trips aboard the longliner KimBill around 1979/80 - for those who don't know, the co-ordinates eg 32.0E (green lanes) and 62.08D (purple lanes) relate to the Decca navigation system in use at the time that pre-dates today's GPS........
books of tallies were often used to make notes in the wheelhouse.......
this tally records the fishing made almost 32 years ago this week - the 6-7 refers to the wind strength........
this time it's January and the fishing is in handy off Mullion and Porthleven, probably for dogs, the readings joined with crosses indicate either end of the line shot - the KimBill used to carry 24 baskets and would work 2 sets of lines of 12 baskets or a 10 and 14, never a 13 and 11 as skipper Bill was superstitious........
in the days when you could land red bream........
congering on Eric's ground - the best shot was 660 stone (4,000Kg) in one night!
