Crabber towed to Newlyn after engine failure in south-easterly gale-force winds.

 

On 2 March 2026 at 5:30am, Falmouth Coastguard requested Penlee RNLI's assistance in recovering an 18-metre fishing vessel with six crew. The casualty had suffered engine failure 20 miles north of the Isles of Scilly around 10:30pm the previous night. St Mary’s RNLI were tasked and had launched their Severn Class lifeboat ‘The Whiteheads’ arriving on the scene just after midnight. However, the weather was poor with a southerly force 7-8, rough seas and a 5-metre swell. Other vessels offered help, but after assessment of the conditions, St Mary’s Lifeboat coxswain decided the safest option was to tow the vessel to Newlyn, the nearest safe haven. Penlee’s all-weather lifeboat ‘Ivan Ellen’, under the command of Coxswain Patch Harvey and with six RNLI volunteers, slipped the moorings at 5:45am and headed towards the rendezvous point northeast of Wolf Rock. After a long and uncomfortable tow by the St Mary’s lifeboat, their line was dropped at 7:15am, and they returned to the Islands. Penlee then handed over their towing rope and bridles to the fishing vessel and began towing at 7:30am.

Despite the challenging conditions, both ‘Ivan Ellen’ and the casualty arrived safely in Newlyn Harbour at 11:15am. After more than five hours at sea, the Penlee Lifeboat was refuelled, washed down and prepared for service.

Murky Monday morning in Newlyn.

Murky it was at first thing as daylight pushed back against a heavily overcast sky...

though the market was full of hake trips from some of the netters...

luke the Stelissa...

and Ajax...

in addition to the hake there werte good supplies of pollack...

red mullet...

Dory...

and ray wings from the Crystal Sea now back to her normal routine of landing for Monday's market...

a few inshore boats made landings of quality fish like these monk tails...

black bream...

brill...

and a handful of paws...

mackerel are almost non-existent on landing dockets...

while red is definitely the in-colour this morning...

for a few punts...

good to see Mr Smith back on the pollack...

and a turn up for the books, a handy-sized tuna made it to market...

meanwhile, every skipper and their crews will be wondering when they will get more than two days of favourable weather per trip!

 

Twitchers flock to Newlyn!

Over the weekend, everywhere you looked, there was a huge lens or scope pointing across the harbour... 

 

as dozens of birders eager to see an extremely rare visit...

not from this regular visitor to Newlyn...

Photo courtesy of Cornwall Birds CBWPS

but from a Ross's gull - normally found in the high arctic.

Downpours galore on the final #FishyFriday of February!

A busy market to finish off the week in Newlyn with the bulk of the hake from...

the netters' Ygraine...

Ajax...

and Britannia V...

humungous tub gurnard, what a gorgeous fish and a great eat too...

pristine turbot...

delightful Dory...

another fine turbot...

and all the typical quality flats you would expect from the beam trawlers that landed like these Dovers...

and lemons...

with plenty of monk tails...

and more lemons filling the auction entries...

seems eight-leggers are still out there in numbers...

whereas these guys are now as scarce as hen's teeth...

main market man...

a fine start to the day...

as the pot boat Sparkling Line...

heads for the gaps...

she was originally built for skipper John Hancock in 1989 and was hugely successful chasing dogs as an innovative auto long-liner all round the UK coast...

big beamers enjoying a few days off in the sun...

loading the barge for the Scillys...

that's some serious weed growth on the old beamer...

a misty-morn over on the Mount...

as the digger moves in...

to destroy what was one of the Meadery restaurants...

Ross Bridge was recently removed and placed on this barge now waiting for the weather to go around the Lizard for major overhaul...

Sparkling Line rocking and rolling her way in to Newlyn.