Fishing for a King's Cross connection.

Proving slightly more elusive in London while on a tight time schedule to find more fishing links it was St Pancreas' station that came good, it being next to Kings Cross, which is, of course, the name of one of the biggest pursers to work off Cornwall chasing mackerel in the late 1970s and 80s! The latest incarnation of the King's Cross within the Lunar Bow fleet can be seen here.

When was tuna used to crack code?

Through the Gaps headed to the big smoke for the weekend taking in a visit to Britain's best kept secret of the Second World War, one personally supported and watched over by the great man himself......
there are regular guided tours to get the most from a visit to what has become known as Station X (something of a misnomer but the guide reveals all!) and the subject of a rather wistful film in comparison to the real heroic story of Bletchley Park and the birth of programmable computing - all started to the genorosity of a Polishman, Lt Col. Langer, the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau in 1939 who called a meeting between French and British intelligence representatives, and the rest, as they say, is history but not that was known for over thirty years.....
eventually, for the purposes of a bloig post, a fishing connection was made, here the guide points to one of ten Colossi machines all codenamed after fish, this one was the Tunny machine......
almost every piece of code breaking machinery was destroyed after the war, this is the replica 'Bombe' built for the film Enigma.......
set in idyllic surroundings, Leon House and Bletchley Park were home to most of the 9,000 staff, mainly young woman, who worked in secret, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the duration of the war decrypting the coded communications that, it is estimated, shortened the war by two years- nothing was known of their work until 1974, and, even then, the men and women who worked there never spoke of this - exemplified by the guide who related an incident from a couple of years ago when a very elderly lady on the tour corrected him on a number of occassions throughout the tour; slightly exasperated, her somewhat intrigued husband turned to her and asked her how she knew all these small details, she replied that she knew because she had worked there, "well I'm blowed" he said, "so did I"!

Joseph Roty 2, tracked all the way from home.

Tracked all the way from her home port of St Malo, the Joseph Roty 2 makes her way North after leaving the Longships light astern.

Fine but frosty Friday

Get the toast on the go, there's plenty of roe to go with lashings of butter, salt & pepper.....
megs, monk and lemons make up the bulk of the quality fish from the Cornishman......
while the Padstow netter Charisma landed off some good boxes of haddock.......
mini-monk tails used to make a scampi substitute for the local Meaderies - urban myth or not? -= the Newlyn Meadery probably owes its existence to a handful of wayward local girls who left candles in jars burning in the roof space of the then dis-used cinema after being spooked - the subsequent fire gave the building a new lease of life as the Meadery we know today......
seems a good buy.......
the harbour flag flies above the harbour offices as a mark of respect for Tony Stevenson, senior partner of the country's largest fleet of beam trawlers who passed away on this week......
fresh decor on Wing's new van.....
four ships passing by the ice works.......
as another spectacular sunrise greets the Bay.

Lola K awaits repairs.

Bow on view of the Lola K with her smashed in wheelhouse windows, an occurrence much more likely in a boat that has a for'ard wheelhouse, for that reason some Breton vessels were designed with windows that faced away from the sea.....
luckily for the crew and the stability of the vessel, the wheelhouse door (sliding) was open at the time the sea dashed in the windows - on these boats the accommodation is in the bow and accessible from within the wheelhouse......
all set for the sardines......
into the second month of the year and the Ivan Ellen is three shouts clear of the Paul Alexander.....

ready to go back aboard the James RH, one re-furbished derrick.

St Ives and Penlee RNLI lifeboat crews assist fishing boat

The Beaumaris registered inshore scalloper, Lola K was damaged by a freak wave some 15 miles off Pendeen last night. The St Ives lifeboat went to assist the two crew members and their vessel whose wheelhouse windows had been smashed by a freak wave.

The boat was eventually towed back to Newlyn by the Penlee lifeboat for an assessment of damage and repairs.

Cold start.

Moving quickly in the cold weather, with the sea temperature around 8º or 9º.....
as cold blooded creatures, the brown crabs are slow to move over the grounds......
so at this time of year catch rates are lower than the warmer months when the warming effect of the Gulf Stream really kick in.....
the more traditional colourful paint schemes on the Sapphire and tug Taktow are picked out by the rays of the morning sun......
astern of the visiting Brixham beamer, Sasha Emiel......
under a new moon one of the local gulls keeps a watchful eye.....
unusually, the frost touches the coast!
have you been SOS'd?