Can you help Yvonne ?

Here is a comment following the visit from the Corbeau des Mers and the celebartions of the Free French activites last week from a reader in Australia - (it will be helpful if Yvonne could publish her email address):

"Hallo, I am thrilled to discover this site. I live in Lismore, Australia. My father, Jean Kervroedan escaped in a fishing boat, the Dalch Mad, from Douarnenez and arrived at Newlyn in April 1943. There were I think 19 men on that boat, including a Canadian airman. My father passed away a year ago, and I am going to be visiting Douarnenez in August, but decided to also visit Penzance for a couple of days in the hope of finding further information for a book I'd like to write about my parents. I will be in the Newlyn area on the 24th and 25th August. If anyone responds to this post, perhaps we can get in touch.

Many thanks,
Yvonne Hartman"

Dalc'h Mad means 'hang on' - so this is one of things that doesn't translate easily. This may be the boat after the same family's boat mentioned in the comment above (Bihen like Behan in Irish Gallic means little)- there is another photo and story on the Free French web site of the vessel and story Yvonne mentioned. To get a rough translation of the story - highlight the text and copy (CTRL+C), go to the Google home page, More and select translate - paste (CTRL+V) the text copied.

Dalc'h Mad from a Breton blog.

In the market for some razors?

Too confusing!!.........
the humble gurnard has been elevated to high status indeed these days if Smarts are buying.....
not often seen on the market - ten boxes of razor clams - one of the advantages of the proposed new computer auction should be remote buyers who are able to access details on fish to be landed - specialist fish like these clams would stand a chance of making better money for the fisherman concerned......
a lone hake from the netter Ajax puts his head above the ice.......
just nudging her bow twoards the market to land brown crab.......
looks like the spares are lined up on the quay for Archie's boys to get overhauling the gear as the change beam sizes......
one of the Nowell family's boat Nellie, flies her red ensign at half-mast in readiness for Roger's funeral on Thursday.

Roger Nowell 'The Skipper' 1944-2010

Aboard the Anthony Stevenson, a red ensign flies at half mast as the family firm show their respect for one of their longest serving skippers, Roger Nowell who passed away today...

Roger, seen here mending gear aboard one of the Nowell family boats, the beam trawler Semper Allegro represents a generation of fishermen who witnessed the biggest transition in the industry since the introduction of steam power - from a time when the they were the 'last of the hunters' relying largely on a echo sounder, compass and fishing knowledge won through experience the hard way - pre mandatory safety certificates, pre radar, pre-EU logbooks, pre VMS, pre GPS, pre 3D video plotters, pre man-made fibres and pre ICES fishing areas. 

All of this was recalled and mulled over in a very personal TV series on the BBC, The Skipper - with a book written to accompany the series told largely from the wheelhouse of the family firm's William Sampson Stevenson, his 'little tiger'. 

Roger lived life to the full and everyone in the industry who sailed with him or spent any time in his company ashore will have a yarn (or several hundred) to tell recalling those days gone by - his big heart and big smile will be missed by one and all.

End of the week.

Ready for the restaurant tables hopefully, good sized hake from a netter.......
it's all megs aboard the James RH........
scaffolding now adorns the Cornish Ice Company's headquarters......
another mornings work in the bag.......
IFL's Admiral is in town again......
almost there for the paint job and DTI work aboard the Elizabeth N in Penzance wet dock........
they don't come any smaller than the Navy's smallest commissioned craft, the survey vessel, HMS Gleaner........

some seriously big sheets of steel arrived at the Dry Dock.

Chasing Cornish tuna nearer home.

Spurred on by a single fish caught in Mount's Bay earlier in the week, lone punt fishermen Chris Morley adapts his traditional bass line and pole rig to fish for tuna.

Atlanic arc.

A fleet of Fench trawlers have formed an arc around the coast of West Cornwall in their search for fish - tracked on the AIS - each purple arrow represents a fishing vessel and indicates the direction of travel.

Mackerel rechead - equally good with fresh tuna.

This dish would work equally well with some tuna steaks from the boys on the Ben Loyal.Take advantage of the fresh mackerel readily available from Cornwall - whether it's a sultry evening or you're forced indoors, this fish is hard to beat for a summer treat on a regular basis.

Recipe courtesy of Keith Floyd's book on his culinary adventures in India:

Mackerel rechead:

Accdording to preference, either head and tail the fish and then gut them or just gut them - one per person will just about do - go for two to be safe!

Deeply score the sides of the fish, place in a small container and squeeze the juice of a lemon all over the fish, salt and add a teaspoon of black peppercorns - leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes.

In the meantime make a fresh masal with th following ingredients - the addition of the red wine vinegar to make a paste marks this as a Goan dish - however, an alternative is to leave out the vinegar and use the masal as a dry rub - your call.
For the masala: 6/7 dried red chillies - 1 tsp cummin seeds - 5/6 cloves garlic - 1 tbsp ground turmeric - 1 inch fresh ginger - 4/5 cardomman pods - 1/2 cinammon stick - 2/3 cloves - 1 tsp sugar - 2 tbsp dried prawns - grind the lot together - a mini processor is quickest but pestle and mortar provides a little exercise of the wrist - then rub the masal into the scored fish and inside the body cavity.

To give it that Goan twist, add 2 fl ozs of red wine vinegar to the masala to make a paste before rubbing into the fish.

To cook on the BBQ - give the fish a coat of oil - if cooked in a frying pan dredge the fish with a little flour first.Ready to go!