NEW YEAR MARKET

[Julian de'Courcy]

Fish markets have been closed over the Christmas period , not opening again until the day after new years day. The local fishermen keen to get their catch on the opening day of the market in 2015 , have been getting reasonable catches especially mackerel which are fetching good prices at the moment. The larger boats have yet to set out as their are poor weather forecasts for the next few days in the western approaches.
One plus, I came home with a bag of fresh anchovies and several herrings , yum yum.


_P1M5900_v2 - Copy by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr


_P1M5899_v1 by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr


_P1M5947_v1 - Copy by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr



_P1M5955_v1 - Copy by Julian de Courcy, on Flickr

 

[Brian Moore]

Excellent set, Julian. Very illustrative of the fisherman's life, as so many of your photos are.

Do you know all of the fishermen in Mevagissay? Also, do you ever eat any beef or any other non-aquatic animal flesh?

(By the way,...wasn't sure how to spell the name of your town so I googled it and went to Wikepedia. Now I know what the town's name means--according to Wikipedia anyway. Also, do you think they really hung a monkey during the Napoleonic wars because they thought it was a French spy?)

 

[Pete Askew]

Monkey! Wasn't that in Hartlepool @Brain Moore?

What a super set Julian and I especially like the ones with eye contact. Very engaging.

 

[Brian Moore]

Monkey! Wasn't that in Hartlepool @Brain Moore?

You dare question Wikipedia, @Pete Askew?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

I like all the footballs in the last shot.

You are lucky to have been accepted into this community, Julian. These are fine shots to look at, and imagine...

 

[Pete Askew]

The plot thickens!

https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/monkey-hangers/

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Excellent set, Julian. Very illustrative of the fisherman's life, as so many of your photos are.

Do you know all of the fishermen in Mevagissay? Also, do you ever eat any beef or any other non-aquatic animal flesh?

(By the way,...wasn't sure how to spell the name of your town so I googled it and went to Wikepedia. Now I know what the town's name means--according to Wikipedia anyway. Also, do you think they really hung a monkey during the Napoleonic wars because they thought it was a French spy?)

Thanks Brian. Yes know all the fishermen at Mevagissey. Used to work on the Trawlers and netters from there many moons ago and went to primary school there. Not fond of Moo cow meat , much prefer lamb , but when given fish I'd hardly rush off to the butchers and pay for beef
Had a look at Wiki myself and am pretty sure there are a few mistakes there, from what I understand of the history I've been told.
It is ST. Mevagissey as most if not all towns and villages in Cornwall are named after Saints. I believe it was two Irish saints, ST. Issey and St.Meva who arrived to convert the locals to Christianity. Going by today on the whole they failed which has to be a positive. They did leave there passion for ale though, the village , which is served by six pubs within seventy five meters of each other, easy to roll from one to the other, which seems as I remember something everyone did. It does have strong ties with Brittany and Spain through the fishing industry , with at one time a large Spanish owned fish factory being a useful employer for the fishermen's wives on the whole up until about the 1960's, where it canned pilchards. All gone now, but many locals have a bit of the Spanish blood through their veins. The monkey story , yes heard it many times but suspect it maybe a fishing port story, although the west country had a lot of involvement in the Napoleonic wars , which is when Dartmoor Prison was built, specifically to house those prisoners of war, along with Americas POW's. There maybe a connection somewhere.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

Monkey! Wasn't that in Hartlepool @Brain Moore?

What a super set Julian and I especially like the ones with eye contact. Very engaging.

Thanks Pete, yes I wondered how the eye contact would work for others. its also that look that ask's me to work the winch and get the boxes of fish ashore for them , Easy to do but saves them a lot of time. Also a kind of swaps for poking the camera at them all the time.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

I like all the footballs in the last shot.

You are lucky to have been accepted into this community, Julian. These are fine shots to look at, and imagine...

Thanks Rob. Youre probably aware in this kind of community everyone knows everything about everyone, no hiding places, . Also having worked as a Fisherman at one time you find you get on with fishermen wherever you are, most of the time.

 

[Brian Moore]

I like all the footballs in the last shot.

Which reminds me. My grandad took me to Largs once when I was a kid and we went out on a boat along with other tourists for a little cruise around the bay. There must have been some 20 passengers on the vessel, which was floating about under the command and guidance of a strapping local lad with ruddy cheeks and dark hair manning the tiller. Among the tourists on the boat was a certain family of a common Glaswegian type: quite rough around the edges if you know what I mean, and lacking in certain social graces so far as I could tell. It consisted, this family, of the mother, the granny, and assorted scrawny urchins of both varieties ranging in age from an estimated 5 to 9 years. Mid-cruise the mother loudly declared to the ship's commander, "Heh mister, ma wain's droapped 'e's ba' in the waatur! Ther its ther!" she announced in that charming dialect of deepest, darkest Glasgow, while pointing at a football floating some 20 yards or so off the port bow. "Ha! Try again misses," replied the commander, with no attempt to suppress his mirth, "That ba's attached tae an anchor!"

The guffaws that followed were hearty, the football remained in the water, and the wain in question remained ball-less for the duration of the cruise.

Hope no one minds me sharing this wee vignette of the life of a Glasgow holiday maker.

 

[Brian Moore]

Going by today on the whole they failed which has to be a positive.

Excellent!

 

[Brian Moore]

The plot thickens!

https://bshistorian.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/monkey-hangers/

But @Pete Askew, bshistorian just proves Wikipedia's research is bullet proof and their thesis about Mevagissay is spot on! Doesn't it...?

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

We, that is Shirl and I, love the pictures and your story, so thank you very much Julian. You did that very well as always and mind you they are colourful. We enjoyed the following stories too and the one of the naturalised american with scandinavian blood running through his veins. I should think he would appreciate Mevagissey, with the pubs so close. I JUST WISH WE HAD MORE TIME WHEN WE WERE THERE. May you have a very good year mate. Envy you the mackerel, we have to wait awhile before it comes here. Cheers all of you.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

We, that is Shirl and I, love the pictures and your story, so thank you very much Julian. You did that very well as always and mind you they are colourful. We enjoyed the following stories too and the one of the naturalised american with scandinavian blood running through his veins. I should think he would appreciate Mevagissey, with the pubs so close. I JUST WISH WE HAD MORE TIME WHEN WE WERE THERE. May you have a very good year mate. Envy you the mackerel, we have to wait awhile before it comes here. Cheers all of you.

Thank you Ivar and a happy new year to Shirley and your good self.
The mackerel here have been at odd's all year, we have the winter shoals that attract the European and large Scottish seine's, then by March that finishes and the smaller local hand line boats earn a good living all be it hard from the spring mackerel, 2014 they did not arrive in march, the past year has been this way with all the types of fishing. So who knows , with all being topsy turvy , if you dangle a line from that bridge of yours, you could be surprised.

 

[Brian Moore]

and large Scottish seine's,

Shame that the fishing villages of England couldn't have voted in the Independence Referendum.

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

Thank you Ivar and a happy new year to Shirley and your good self.
The mackerel here have been at odd's all year, we have the winter shoals that attract the European and large Scottish seine's, then by March that finishes and the smaller local hand line boats earn a good living all be it hard from the spring mackerel, 2014 they did not arrive in march, the past year has been this way with all the types of fishing. So who knows , with all being topsy turvy , if you dangle a line from that bridge of yours, you could be surprised.

I might be surprised Julian. I know some have been surprised dangling from that bridge and it about 60 meters above sea level.

 

[Julian de'Courcy]

I might be surprised Julian. I know some have been surprised dangling from that bridge and it about 60 meters above sea level.

That is fine Ivar, I suggest having more than 60m of line on the fishing reel plus a little more to allow for the tide