As May Day draws to a close

Ship-shape and Bristol-fashion aboard the Dutchman......
The scrap metal skip is full again.....
while one of the lazier local gulls looks for a scrap to eat in the general rubbish skip......
with the season underway, the hardier yellow-wellies arrive in town.

Flemish giant

All smiles on the deck as the giant twin-rigger Ora et Labora makes her way to a berth on the end of the new quay......
with net drums to match the trawl size......
and with a crew from Urk.

Pair team

Heading towards the gaps, the Defiant, local half of the anglo-scottish pair team......
who instead of a cabin-boy, appear to have a cowboy on board.......
waiting for the Crystal Sea II to arrive, heavy combination bridles, that these days come with reinforced and spliced ends.........
off for a feed, ever-ready gulls take to the air......
ex-fishing boat the johan is passed by a classic Cornish yacht making her way down the harbour stern first.

An article to challenge current thinking

With a tag line that asks you to imagine a world without seafood for supper, this article is an insight as to how the future of fishing will be shaped by supply, demand and the need to trade in sustainable fisheries will be a must in order to preserve the world's fish stocks for our children and beyond.

Last year's shock rise in fuel prices that threartened oil-dependent trades will happen again - although the result of speculation amongst jittery investors, the decline in stocks will inevitably cause a rise in price - if other factors don't get there first. Those fishermen around the world who operate from small boats may have their day.

More than a few meshes out

Time to rig the derrick again after the straightening out has been completed.....
whereas the mending continues along the wings of the trawl on the quay, clean ground trawls of 30 fathoms plus (a fathom equals six feet, just under two metres) contain a huge number of meshes that need cutting out and braiding.......
having the net off the ground makes this process a little easier.

Passing Stockholm

You don't see many wheelhouses like this anymore, though the Feasible, currently in Penzance wet dock is not dissimilar......
local yacht Louby passes by this unusual looking ship anchored just off Mousehole Island, the Stockholm, normally found crusing the Baltic regions, provides a base for the expedition company Origo Expedition.......
over in Penzance, and watched by harbourmaster Neil Clark,a tug being is manouvered, carfeully into the dry dock, it appears that many hands and hard hats make light work.....
a fleet of returning punts is passed by the Stockholm's zodiac tender......
as they pass St Clement's, as Mousehole Island is officially named......
during an assissted docking, the skipper of the 110 foot Belgian beamer, Vertouwen, didn't endear himself to the harbour staff this morning when his engineer shut down the main engine before she reached her berth......
the slip has a passenger for the first time in over a week.

Smoke and sail

Surrounded by hungry gulls, the Breton stern trawler Digny heads back out to the grounds......
after hours against the quay with her main engine idling, going hard astern for the Cornishman shrouds the Intuition in exhaust fumes.....
half way through the paint job for the Ros Na Rioch......
Big brother and Little brother, smallest memebr of the Rowse fleet comes alongside the Emma Louise.....
Dragun-An-Moar (captured in pastels here by marine artrist James Bartholomew) makes her way to the market with some slack mackerel fishing this evening.....
looking for some gold at the end of the rainbow......
the Cornishman heads out from the gaps.......
and lowers her derricks for the long steam ahead......
passed astern by a hardy looking bunch aboard the yacht raising their mains'l.....
as they dodge head-to-wind......
and, after hoisting the fores'l, pick up the North Westerly draft and head away from the shore.....
there's some serious repair work to be done with the port side wing of this clean ground trawl.