Night time on Thursday - a trying time trying to get slipped.

A long day's work for some class Cornish mackerel...

while the port's biggest crabber...

prepares to leave her berth at the fish market...

and make her way to the slip...

which involves carefully lining the boat up with the cradle - away in the distance and only a few hundred metres form the beach one of the port's sardine netters is busy talking aboard a shot of fish...

looks like rain to the north west...

as the boat waits for the cradle to roll down the slip...

something that can't be hurried - in the end the exercise was abandoned...

back at the fish market more line caught mackerel arrives...

and one of the port's oldest full time fishermen...

makes his way up over the ladder...

and off to the fridge with his afternoon's work

Not such a #FishyFriday for some fishermen - #EatMoreFish

Four Galway based fishermen and a Romanian crewman are making their way home after a terrifying experience when the trawler they were fishing on sank off the west coast of Scotland on Tuesday. The men had a lucky escape as they all managed to be dramatically saved by the Scottish coastguard rescue helicopter.

The Iúda Naofa is a 23 metre vessel which is based at the port of Rossaveal. The boat is owned by Inis Mór native Máirtín “Twenty” O’Conghaile who was acting as skipper for the fishing expedition. Mr O’Conghaile’s son Micheál was also on board along with Carna natives Paraic Breathnach and Eric Hernon. The Romanian man was the fifth member of the crew.

Iúda Naofa began taking on water 48 miles north of the Butt of Lewis at about 11am on Tuesday.The coastguard was immediately notified of a fishing vessel in distress. It is now being speculated that the extremely stormy weather found a weakness in the boat’s hull which led to a crack forming and the subsequent leakage.

Crew frantically tried to pump the water from the vessel and they requested the coastguard to bring another salvage pump to aid their efforts. However it is thought the ingress of water led to a problem with the boat’s electrics and the on-board pump began to fail. By the time the coastguard from Stornaway arrived on the scene, the vessel had become swamped and started to sink.
The five men were submerged in the water but were protected by water-proof safety suits which have in-built life-jackets. It is believed the Romanian national and Eric Hernon - whose father was watching the dramatic scene unfold on-board nearby sister fishing vessel, the Star of Hope - managed to make their way to the boat’s life-raft while the three others were floating in the water for a number of minutes. It was obviously an extremely distressing experience compounded by the fact the water was only about four degrees.

The helicopter airlifted Mr Hernon and the Romanian fisherman on to the Star of Hope. The other three were winched on to the helicopter and transferred to the Western Isles hospital, where they were treated for mild hypothermia. They were kept overnight for observation and have suffered no lasting ill-effects.

Coastguard duty watch manager, Paul Tunstall, said weather conditions on scene were very rough at the time of the rescue. “We were dealing with southerly force six winds, and a strong swell, evacuating the five crew swiftly and safely before the vessel went down was a great achievement.’’
The Galway and Aran Fishermen’s Co-op is the handling agent for the boat. General manager Sean Griffin says everybody is immensely relieved that the men managed to be rescued safely. “They are all obviously quite shaken but in good sprits overall. They know how lucky they were. We have seen tragedies here before and thankfully another one has been avoided. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Scottish rescue services who were on the scene very very fast and were utterly professional in what were very difficult weather conditions.’’

Mr Griffin says the four fishermen along with Máirtín O’Conghaile, who all work in the industry full-time, are now out of a job and will be seeking work elsewhere. He said he could not speak on behalf of Mr O’Conghaile but hoped he would be in a position to purchase another trawler in due course.

The two crewmen who were airlifted on to the Star of Hope are en route home on that vessel while the remaining crew were looked after by the Mission to Seafarers in Stornoway which fed them and paid for a ferry to the mainland. They travelled to Inverness last night and were trying to secure flights to Ireland where they are expected back into Dublin or Belfast at some stage today [Thursday].

The men will return home to relieved family members today with this incident, once again, highlighting the precarious nature of life at sea

Source: With thanks to the Galway Advertiser

Trawling aboard the Jacqueline in the 1940s in Newlyn.

This British Pathé instructional film is largely filmed in Newlyn aboard the Stevenson sidetrawler Jacqueline...

she was one of a small fleet (Jacqueline, Anthony Stevenson, Trewarveneth, Excellent, Elizabeth CarolineMarie Claire and Elizabeth Ann-Webster - the latter two converted to beam trawling in the 1980s)of wooden trawlers owned by Stevensons that formed the backbone of their fleet during and after WWII right up untill they were superceded (but not replaced) by the much newer steel Sputniks (Bervie Braes, Sarah Shaun, ABS and the Karen) followed by the first of the beam trawl fleet the Algrie, AA and Anneleise in 1978-9...

sidewinding in a flat calm took patience and skill in keeping the boat from the gear especially when shooting the trawl away...

gutting in the sidedeck on hands and knees...

the working deck from the foremast...

running repairs on the for'ard trawl door.

and now enjoy the 'out-takes' version!

Buy a piece of history for £1!

Historic Fishing Vessel For Sale

£1 price, preferably to someone willing to restore the vessel.

The Excellent under skipper Mervyn Mountjoy leaves Newlyn bound for the classic working boat festival in Brest 1992

Illustrated tour round the boat

Excellent is a wooden fishing vessel.

Built: 1931

Registered length: 23.18m

Currently in Newlyn, Cornwall

The owner is willing to give this vessel to someone who might restore her, for the sum of £1. Contact judithevapiper@wstevenson.co.uk if interested.

See further details of this vessel on the National Register.

The boat has an amazing history which includes clandestine service (yet to be fully researched) during the second World War in Norwegian waters when she was loaned from Stevensons to the Admiralty. Read the full story here:

Late night landing to get hake on a fishmonger's counter near you.

That's half the trip of fish from the Ajax off to Brixham, love the photo on the side of the lorry trailer showing a Brixham beam trawler coming in #ThroughTheGaps...

good to see Treeve back in action #crabbingdaysover ...

while skipper Alan swings another set of boxes ashore...

from the fishroom below...

half the trip is now safely on the fish market in Newlyn all set for the morning's market when your best local shops like The Fish Shop will be looking to have bought Ajax hake for sale on their counters in time for #FishyFriday...

along with beam trawl fish...

 and cuttles 

from the Filly and the St Georges...

ready for the grading machine to fire up nearer midnight.

Ajax springs away!

#MMO scrutinised by the HoC Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee

Committee Room 16 Meeting starts on Wednesday 21 January at 3pm

Work of the Committee (MMO) 2010-15

Witnesses:

Sir Bill Callaghan, Chair, 
John Tuckett, Chief Executive Officer
Andrew Beattie, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Marine Management Organisation