Royal knits - curtsy of Knit Wits, Penzance.

One Penzance shop has re-ceated tomorrow's wedding proceedings in the Abbey........

 with these wonderfully crafted knitted figures.......

some bearing more than a passing resemblance to certain members of the Royal Family. Well done Knit Wits!

Lub Senior seining shots.

The huge Dutch seiner had one busy day with nine shots this week, better than last week when the Navy boarded her and gave her a three hour inspection at sea.

St Ives painting recently bought at David Lay's auction - more information forthcoming.

Further analysis of the St Ives painting has revealed more information and given rise to some confusion over the boat and incident in question......

for instance, closer analysis of the note on the back reveals some text on the reverse side that says, "Return of  the Girl Renee after missing for three days, St Ives, 1962"  in a different hand.........

the artist has now been identified as one, Edith M Huxham - Janet Axten, from the St Ives Trust archive has supplied the following information about her, "She is not a St Ives or Newlyn artist, but she showed five paintings in an exhibition at Lanhams Gallery (there is a Lanhams Gallery sticker on the back)in St Ives many years ago. The Archive has a copy of the catalogue, but it is undated sadly. I would think that the exhibition might have taken place in the 1920s or early 1930s, but the name of the exhibition was called ‘Paintings and Watercolours by artists past and present' - so not very helpful. Her paintings were selling for £5.00. She painted a work called ‘The Mermaid of Zennor’, but the rest of the paintings were flower studies".......

a closer look at the bow of the boat reveals indistinct lettering.......

while this crop gives a better view of the boat which John McWilliams suggests could be Breton rather than St Ives (due to the rounded or slightly flared bow)......

this is the painting in full.

PZ81 Lyonesse update.

 John McWilliams kindly added this photo of the Lyonesse laying outside the drifter Feasible the other week before making her way up to the Thames.....

Photos courstey of John McWilliams, St Ives.

and a shot of her leaving Newlyn back when she was fishing. Amongst many stories, she is perhaps most famous for being subjected to the kind of interest by one of Her Majesty's warships on patrol that you could do without when at sea - being shelled, in July 1959, by HMS Belfast while she was long lining!

Back in business - fish up for auction.

The Sapphire put ashore a good run of monk 'n megs, typical beamer trip for the time of year......

with a smattering or very red red gurnards.......

the St Adrianne went Dory bashing handy to the islands.......

a junior jouster's kit, gloves and box hook.......

two kinds of passing leisure vessels grace the pontoon berths......

and a sign of the fine weather, not a beamer in site on the North Quay......

the brown crabs are showing signs of moving more these days as the water temperature rises.......

and the clouds are reflected in the flat calm waters of the harbour......

signs of the big day are beginning to appear around the village......

with some patriotic displays.......

in various windows.......

though, Debbie is the Star Inn has a different take on the impending proceedings!!

Easter Monday.

 Twixt the masts, RMS Scillonian on her way to the Scillys......... 

 passes the TS Pelican of London and the Astrid.........

 while the Gry Maritha loads outside the wet dock as the dock gate is yet to be put back together successfully.......

 amongst other nauticalia, Steckfentsers of Chapel Street has a Danish flagged trawler model, the Esjberg for sale......

 same boat seen from the stern.......

 good to see one old sea dog wearing his Crewsaver buoyancy aid........

 and yet again picking are pretty slack this morning, literally a bucket of fish for some hands!.......

 one punt for sale........

 signs of a full set of new fenders for the port.......

 top turbot from the Sapphire make their way ashore.......

Gary the hand liner from St Ives.

Lamorna story update.

The recently discovered painting at the David Lay auction featured on the blog a few days ago has received some interesting feedback from various sources in St Ives - some suggesting that the boat in question may not be the Lamorna as referred to by the short note on the back of the work.........

Scanned advert courstesy of J McWilliams, St Ives.

John McWilliams has added this background information -

In the attached Lister Diesel advert from 1962, Skipper Willie Care, Bish's uncle, tells the story of them being caught out while lining in the Channel. The Lamorna SS 45 had no radio at the time so they didn't hear the forecast. Incidentally Willie used to complain that Listers never paid him a penny for this fulsome testimonial.

Chris Care's father John & two uncles Willie & George who owned the boat, were in her at the time of this 1962 storm.

The page (below) from Yachting World showing her plans, was published in 1955 when the Lamorna was built by Falmouth Boat Construction.

The painting by Edith Huxton Huxham is a French crabber, not a Cornish boat.

Chris Hibbert is quite right, the Lamorna was out here in the Channel, not off the coast of Ireland. He is also right that she went into Hayle, not St Ives...

....

around that time the magazine Yachting Monthly published line drawings of the boat.