Happy Christmas from Through the Gaps in Newlyn!

" We three Kings of Orient are", well in Newlyn it's three ships of course.......
and, as ever, some wag could not help add their own extra Christmas tree decoration outside the harbour offices......
Tom surveys a tranquil Christmas Day morning in Mount's Bay.

Tom Bawcock's night, gottles of geer, gravlax and goose!

Traditionally, in this part of the world, the night before Christmas Eve is referred to as Tom Bawcock's and celebrated in and around Mousehole with fish suppers - Starry Gazey pie being the most well known incarnation and served every year in the Ship Inn, Mousehole - a huge pie crust dish with the heads of the fish therein sticking out of the pie edges. ......
Through the Gaps has given Tom's night a miss this year but nevertheless there's a fishy thing going on - made a few days before the big event, a fresh box of gravlax is on the go - fillet a side of salmon, use the mid cut and place skin side down, cover with a mixture of coarse sea salt (2tbsp), light brown sugar(1tbsp), ground white pepper(2tbsp) and a handful of fresh dill, cover with foil, place a heavy weight on top to press the fillets and turn every twelve hours - ready in a minimum of 24 but will keep for a week - especially in this weather....
one of the gems of west Penwith hidden away in the backstreets of St Just, Vivian Olds butchers....
have supplied the Christmas fayre for the festive period, open the bags and there's a diary and Christmas card with every order - nice touch! - the Christmas day meal was going to be the boned goose stuffed with the boned duck stuffed with the boned chicken - but master butcher Randall looked mortified at the thought - so the big bird may well end up being roasted individually to his slow cooking instructions - upside down for 1 1/2 hours at 150˚, turn and drain and then another 1 1/2 hours.

Going for a Dutch auction.

Just in time for Christmas there's a new shop in Newlyn packed full of gifts.....
guys during an impromptu missed this evening of vocal excellence, sometimes, if you're really lucky, you might catch them rehearsing in one of the local hostelries.....
Badcock's gallery is host to another installation work of art, this time promoting the locally based but globally active charity Shelterbox......
the harbour is full of boats at the start of the break......
though one of the floating museum pieces is up on the hard......
dramatic skies foretell the chance of sleet, snow, hail a,d sub-zero temperatures......
with the quay covered in a sheet of black ice.....
making her way in to be the last big boat to land her fish at Newlyn (overland), the Belgian flagged Dutch beamer Ora et Labora - last year she was in with bottom trawl gear on to keep working during the fuel price crisis that the beam trawl fleet so lives in fear of.

Etolie des Ondes

More information is now available with regard to the loss of the Teignmouth based crabber, Etoile des Ondes 20 miles off Cherbourg.

Teignmouth crabber, Etoile des Ondes lost in Channel.

Not the sort of news needed just before Christmas. French coastguards co-ordinated the rescue of three crewmen from the Teignmouth based Weymouth registered crabber Etoile des Ondes that sank around 2030 last night 20 miles off Cherbourg. Sadly, a fourth crew member is still missing. It is thought the boat may have been involved in a collision.

"The search for the young man disappeared have ended around 04h30 in the morning," said a spokesman of the prefecture. The fishing vessel, "The star of the waves," was at the time of the accident to 20 nautical (37 kilometers) north of Cherbourg in the rail level. Three of the four sailors were recovered from a life raft by a merchant vessel that had alerted the Cross Jobourg, after receiving a warning and saw a red flare distress.

The three sailors were transported to University Hospital by helicopter Pasteur Dragon 50 civil security. Two helicopters, Dolphin, Dragon 50, and Falcon aircraft the Navy has departed Lann-Bihoué (Morbihan) have researched some of the night to find the missing.

The circumstances of the sinking is not known, although the weather did not seem too difficult.

Story translated by Google courtesy of Le Figaro in France.

Longest night and last full market for the year sees out 2009

"Save our fish", again.......
the agility of ex-rugby man Mr Bick moves at speed across the market floor...... one of a single box of skate on the market......
more black gold from the Resurgam, one of around six beam trawlers that landed over the weekend......
more black, this time two shades of conger, one very black......

while up in the W&S office, one shade of white paint throughout is the order of the day to brighten the interior.