Extracted image from the short British Pathé newsreel clip showing a young Bobby Jewell in the wheelhouse of his trawler, Chichester Lass.
Some-time crewman Roy Shelley remembers the days:
"What a great little film! I went pilchard driving many times with Bobby Jewell on the Chichester Lass in the early 1960s. John Foster Tonkin was with Bobby for a long time. We would mostly fish off the Wolf Rock . I think the Chichester Lass was owned by Shippams. Bobby later bought her for trawling. Later on in the 1960s I had a trip with Bobby from Falmouth, I think this was aboard the Girl Sybil PZ595 for pilchards again. His last boat was the Galilean, a St Guenole trawler (later owned by Mervyn Mountjoy). He lived in Porthleven where the rest of his family live; the last time I saw him was at John Fosters' funeral in 2000. He lived Liverpool way then.
We would leave Newlyn not later than 6 pm head for the Wolf Rock area to shoot the huge long net like a curtain hanging down. First put a Tilley lamp on the dhan to mark the end of nets, which you could hardly see - seemed a mile away! Then stay there all night with mizzen up drifting. Always plenty of Newlyn boats around. Bobby would talk on the radio to others and sing hymns. Most men wore thigh boots, cotton smocks and peak caps. During the night we eat a good fry up and chocolate bars. In the early hours we would haul in net driving ahead slowly to get all the tiers aboard full of pilchards shaking them out as we went. Later returning to Newlyn in the early hours, 5 or 6 in morning to land. Maybe the pilchards where transported to Shippams factory in Newlyn where Trelawney Fish is today - everyone called the little slip opposite there Shippams Slip.
I would stay with John Foster in New Road, his wife was a good artist - lovely people. Good views of Breton crabbers on the buoy also outside on anchor and also the coaster on stone quay."
PILCHARD FISHING INDUSTRY
This is one film about Pilchards from British Pathé that could do with some local input from fishermen. The opening scenes are shot at Mevagissey while the rest is made up of clips from Looe and Newlyn. The cannery was Masons in Mevagissey. It would be good to identify which boat the fishing sequences were shot aboard and any faces that appear in the films.
