The night before Christmas Eve - Tom Bawcock night - fishy supper.

East meets West - a fusion meal for Tom Bawcock's night this year - fish courtesy of the Elisabeth Veronique - have a good'un guys!

 Putting together the tandoori mix (thanks to Floyd on India).........

 take one large plaice, score both sides and liberally coat with tandoori mix, especially the score marks......

 for the cuttlefish, make up a Piri Piri sauce, thanks for that go to Sanjay Kumar........

 chillies, red onion and tomato.........

 prep the flavouring for the Chana Dal (which might need soaking - your local Asian shop should stock the correct chana dal lentils, if not Asda do, even in Cornwall) , bay leaf, fried red onion, garlic, red chili powder, turmeric, fried cumin seeds, three chopped tomatoes can be added at this stage....... 

simmer in chicken stock till tender.........

the main course gets a pat on the back, in a baking tin, bury a tub gurnard in soaked sea salt........

trying something different, a mulled cider..........

no wonder they call it Gurnard's Head, a cliff headland near Pendeen on the North coast of Cornwall......

after baking for around 40 minutes you can serve by cracking off the hard crust......

one beetroot raita.......

main dish number two, tandoori plaice is now out of the oven and grill......

with the wonderfully moist slightly flavoured flesh lifted carefully off from the bones.

Fishing vessel, Heather Anne lost off Mevagissey.

Heather Ann - photo courtesy of Martin Johns.

Two men were rescued from the water last night around 11pm off Mevagissey by Falmouth lifeboat, after transferring from local fishing boat Lauren Kate before an SAR helicopter flew one man to Treliske Hospital, where he later died.


The ring netter, Heather Anne normally fishes for Cornish Sardines and had already landed one haul earlier in the evening when she went back out for another shot.


The incident happened at the same time as BBC1 was showing a repeat of the documentary programme made five years ago to commemorate the loss of the Penlee lifeboat in 1991. Thirty nine minutes and 25 seconds into the programme you can hear lifeboat cox'n Trevelyan Richards begin what was to be his last VHF radio conversation with Falmouth Coastguard - in the recorded soundtrack that follows, you can sense from the coastguard's tone that he knows he isn't going to hear that particular voice again.


Ring netting involves a huge net that encircles a shoal of fish as seen in this short video of three boats working just outside Newlyn Harbour in Mount's Bay for sardines.

Christmas preparations - Octopus and Gravadlax.

 Destined for a Sicilian style cold salad dish, the octopus needs prepping, this will make for a very tender eight legged dish.........

 carefully peel of the outer membrane or skin from the body and remove the contents, including the beak and eyes from around the base of the tentacles..............

 cut into one inch squares and steep in salt water for 30 minutes before popping in boiling water for 30 minutes, save a cup of the resultant broth.........

 then into the slow cooker along with a sauce, chopped parsley, 3/4 cup olly oil, hot red chili flakes to taste, juice of one lemon, salt and pepper (try ground white)  to season, on high for an hour then give it a good 6-8 more on low, serve with a chickpea salad to follow tradition.......

 meanwhile the gravadlax needs doing, assemble the ingredients, salt, crushed pepper corns, sugar, dill and a big dash of brandy.........

 first fillet the fish (thank you once again Sue!)........

 to check for the line of bones. run the finger tip back from the head end 

 and using some proper fish tweezers (or small pliers if you must) pull out the bones one by one, about a dozen a side will be found.......

 sprinkle over the curing mix.......

 cover with dill before wrapping (getting some practise in) in cling film........

and placing in the fridge or somewhere chilly with a heavy weight, like a piece of slate - turn every day - ready from day three onwards.

Hot seller - hake!

Good to see this tweet from Sienna's the fish restaurant in Dorset to top Padstow chef Adrian Oliver in the restaurant Adrian Margot - 

SiennaDorset @Adrian_Margots@ajaxah32 followed! Selling loads of Hake at the moment.8 hours ago · reply · retweet · favoritek


keep up the good work guys!

Penultimate fish market for 2011 at Newlyn.

In contrast to previous mornings, almost a flat calm in the harbour this morning.......

on the penultimate market of the year with fish boxes stretching end-to-end.......

even some head-on monk........

in customary work pose, Mr Munson surveys the busy auction floor......

a good run of big white fish........

and hake from the netter Ajax........

Cornish sardines tub by tub........

head for Ocean Fish's waiting transport.......

while Andrew eventually gives in and lends a hand to his hard-pressed harbour staff team as they flounder under the huge number of boxes to be washed and put back aboard the boats......

time to scrub down after landing, the Sapphire's last 2011 trip.......

while the ring netter Asthore should get a few more landing in before the new years she has plenty of fish on her quota left.......

much to auctioneer Ryan's amusement, look like local butchers McFaddens are now joining the fish game.......

only top quality fish for these guys......

with the brightest of red gurnards to keep them in good company.......

down to the last boat's fish......

eye's down, and this time it's Buttons who provides the humour content......

two shining examples of top quality Cornish fish for local fish merchants and purveyors of fine food, Wings of St Mawes, Rob Wing will be looking forward to dressing the shop window with this cracking black bream and grey mullet.......

the recent weather has piled the shore with more lost gear.

Triple-riggers maiden voyage.

With the weather keeping them fishing 'inside' (not out beyond Mount's Bay in more exposed conditions) the Elisabeth Veronique draws against the fish market to make her last landing of 2011........

down in the fishroom, Phil pulls out the boxed catch......

under the glare of Newlyn's Christmas lights,the triple rig proved itself a worthy fishing tool successfully targeting brill and monk on its shakedown trip.......

every boat has its own way of checking the minimum landing size (MLS) allowed for pressure stock (quoted) fish species...... 

Curtiss Jnr jnr, skipper in the making Adam checks home while Dad is landing.......

then its time for Curtiss Jnr to take the ship back into her berth........

photos of the Elisabeth Veronique, bought from Guilvinec in 1972 back to Fowey and renamed the Elisabeth (which Grandfather Curtis did to save having to carve a new name with all that careful signwriting painting every year - which even included him re-registering her FY83 for the same reason - 83 being the first to letters of her 7 digit GV registration).........

leased crabber under skipper Mario lands to Seafood and Eat It crabmongers.......

Newlyn invaded by charity runners in Xmas fancy dress........

supper waiting for the pot.......

steaming just out of the pot.......

all set for Tom Bawcock's eve on the 23rd.

Penlee lifeboat tragedy - thirty years ago today.

Searching off Tater Dhu in 1981.

Tater Dhu taken during Sunday's memorial trip aboard today's Penlee Lifeboat, Ivan Ellen courtesy of Emily Smith.

This was how the story broke on BBC news at the time. 

Tribute to the Solomon Browne and crew from Russel Holland.

A few days before the Union Star ran aground, another ship the Bonita began to list in hurricane force winds 30 mles south east of Brixham. This video, just released from the RNLI tells the story of that little known rescue in which 29 crew, including the skipper's wife and two year old child, were taken off a ship in extreme conditions by the Gurnsey lifeboat, Sir William Arnold.

Today, more than ever, the RNLI needs the support of those who value their work in preserving the lives of those who go down to the sea.