Guilvinec photo blog

Across the water, our Breton cousins in Le Guilvinec also have a daily photo blog, with a number of contributers capturing the comings and goings of the port. Most, if not all the larger vessels that feature in the blog have taken shelter or visited Newlyn at some time over the years.

Amongst Newlyn fleet, ex-French boats, like the Keriolet used to visit Le Guilvinec and use the boat hoist on the Lechigat side of the river for major refits and main engine work. There has been talk of having a similar hoist facility created in Newlyn.

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.