RIP Edwin Madron, Fisherman, Lifeboatman, Family man and Friend in the community.

Here's a typical Edwin yarn. Late one evening, in his new role as Mousehole's harbourmaster Edwin found himself down the end of the quay eying up a pile of bait wrapped in grubby newspaper an angler was just about to leave behind on the quay. "I hope you're going to take that with you", said Edwin in the most harbour-masterly voice he could muster. "Who the **** do you think you are, the ******* harboumaster? **** off!" the angler replied. Edwin was about to say, "I am the harbourmaster", or words to that effect when he paused for a moment realising that, as he was stood there in a dirty, once white T shirt and ripped jeans he hardly looked the part or deserved any kind of recognition for such an important role in the community. Hence the embroidered shirt he is proudly posing with above. RIP Edwin. Editor Through the Gaps.

The NPHC flag flies at half mast - the harbour has lost one of its true characters

One of Mousehole’s great characters – and its last “old sea dog” – has died. Harbourmaster Edwin Madron passed away on Monday morning after a long illness. Leaving school at just 14 to follow his grandfather, father, uncle, brothers and cousins to sea, Edwin was a fisherman for 46 years.

Edwin skippered the trawler Nicola Marie...

seen here steaming into St Mary's...

in the Scillies....

his last command was the baby of the Stevenson's fleet, the stern trawler Cathryn...

which he worked single handed, so dealing with a huge boulder like this picked up in the trawl necessitated steaming home and additional assistance...

of course he wasn't just a fisherman but a family man too, here he is landing...

under the watchful eyes of his grandchild...

here is Edwin giving a new twist on the term 'single-handed' fisherman!
At 15 he joined other members of his family on the Penlee lifeboat crew.

Edwin's sometimes grumpy countenance was merely a front for a genuinely funny man.

RNLI respect for Edwin

In his early 60s, he still talked of the adrenaline-fuelled run to the old Penlee lifeboat slip when the maroons went off for a shout. And 30 years after the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster that took the lives of eight members of the crew - including his brother Stephen - he still talked emotionally about the devastation Mousehole felt afterwards.

Edwin served aboard the Solomon Browne's replacement Mabel Alice - seen here with the first ever shout when she towed in the French crabber Rayone de Soleil from Morlaix.

He served as mechanic on the Solomon Browne's replacement, the Mabel Alice, and gave 33 years service to the RNLI.

As harbourmaster he oversaw the operations of the ten to twelve fishing boats left working out of Mousehole, but he loved harking back to the times when the village was a thriving fishing port.

In a video about his work as harbourmaster recorded in 2012 he said: “Years ago there were about 200 boats in here… pilchard drifting, mackerel drifting and ring-netting, liners… but they've all gone now. I’m the only old sea dog left.”