When was tuna used to crack code?
Through the Gaps headed to the big smoke for the weekend taking in a visit to Britain's best kept secret of the Second World War, one personally supported and watched over by the great man himself......
there are regular guided tours to get the most from a visit to what has become known as Station X (something of a misnomer but the guide reveals all!) and the subject of a rather wistful film in comparison to the real heroic story of Bletchley Park and the birth of programmable computing - all started to the genorosity of a Polishman, Lt Col. Langer, the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau in 1939 who called a meeting between French and British intelligence representatives, and the rest, as they say, is history but not that was known for over thirty years.....
eventually, for the purposes of a bloig post, a fishing connection was made, here the guide points to one of ten Colossi machines all codenamed after fish, this one was the Tunny machine......
almost every piece of code breaking machinery was destroyed after the war, this is the replica 'Bombe' built for the film Enigma.......
set in idyllic surroundings, Leon House and Bletchley Park were home to most of the 9,000 staff, mainly young woman, who worked in secret, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the duration of the war decrypting the coded communications that, it is estimated, shortened the war by two years- nothing was known of their work until 1974, and, even then, the men and women who worked there never spoke of this - exemplified by the guide who related an incident from a couple of years ago when a very elderly lady on the tour corrected him on a number of occassions throughout the tour; slightly exasperated, her somewhat intrigued husband turned to her and asked her how she knew all these small details, she replied that she knew because she had worked there, "well I'm blowed" he said, "so did I"!
Joseph Roty 2, tracked all the way from home.
Tracked all the way from her home port of St Malo, the Joseph Roty 2 makes her way North after leaving the Longships light astern.
Fine but frosty Friday
Get the toast on the go, there's plenty of roe to go with lashings of butter, salt & pepper.....
megs, monk and lemons make up the bulk of the quality fish from the Cornishman......
while the Padstow netter Charisma landed off some good boxes of haddock.......
mini-monk tails used to make a scampi substitute for the local Meaderies - urban myth or not? -= the Newlyn Meadery probably owes its existence to a handful of wayward local girls who left candles in jars burning in the roof space of the then dis-used cinema after being spooked - the subsequent fire gave the building a new lease of life as the Meadery we know today......
seems a good buy.......
the harbour flag flies above the harbour offices as a mark of respect for Tony Stevenson, senior partner of the country's largest fleet of beam trawlers who passed away on this week......
fresh decor on Wing's new van.....
four ships passing by the ice works.......
as another spectacular sunrise greets the Bay.
Lola K awaits repairs.
Bow on view of the Lola K with her smashed in wheelhouse windows, an occurrence much more likely in a boat that has a for'ard wheelhouse, for that reason some Breton vessels were designed with windows that faced away from the sea.....
luckily for the crew and the stability of the vessel, the wheelhouse door (sliding) was open at the time the sea dashed in the windows - on these boats the accommodation is in the bow and accessible from within the wheelhouse......
all set for the sardines......
into the second month of the year and the Ivan Ellen is three shouts clear of the Paul Alexander.....
ready to go back aboard the James RH, one re-furbished derrick.
St Ives and Penlee RNLI lifeboat crews assist fishing boat
Cold start.
Moving quickly in the cold weather, with the sea temperature around 8º or 9º.....
as cold blooded creatures, the brown crabs are slow to move over the grounds......
so at this time of year catch rates are lower than the warmer months when the warming effect of the Gulf Stream really kick in.....
the more traditional colourful paint schemes on the Sapphire and tug Taktow are picked out by the rays of the morning sun......
astern of the visiting Brixham beamer, Sasha Emiel......
under a new moon one of the local gulls keeps a watchful eye.....
unusually, the frost touches the coast!
have you been SOS'd?
Unusual beamer conversion.
Major machines in Mount's Bay - will powerboats come to PZ?
Negotiations are in the final stages to bring a round of the Powerboat P1 World Championships to Penzance over three days – Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd May 2010. This tremendous coup is thanks to the work of Penzance Town Councillor Mike Lovegrove who initially negotiated with the organisers of the races. Cllr Lovegrove gained the immediate support of Penzance Chamber of Commerce and the Penzance & District Tourism Association as both organisations saw the enormous economic potential for the town.
Not only will the event be held this year but it is possible that it will be held in Penzance for a further 4 years at least.
IFCA? Think Cornwall Sea Fisheries Commitee - as was!
Applications are being sought from the Cornish fishing community to join the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCSAs), which are due to replace the existing Sea Fisheries Committees in April.
As a result of the successful introduction of the Marine and Coastal Access Act, ten IFCAs are being established along the coast. They will have a wider remit to promote healthy seas, champion sustainable fisheries, and boost viable industry by managing inshore fisheries resources out to six nautical miles.With the growth of community led projects and paying heed to terms like inclusivity, here is another opportunity for anyone with even a remote connection to the sea to become directly involved in influencing the day to day management of coastal resources including fishing. This can have obvious strengths for the resource concerned as such a collective should bring a wide range of views to the process and ensure that powerful, yet misguided larger bodies, do not get their way as a matter of course.
A good read.
With the recent legislation that all fishing vessels over 15m record their tracks comes a huge amount of data can now be turned into a more readily appreciated visible format. This document from across the water in Ireland makes fascinating reading, especially the fishing effort maps that chart fishing effort species by species around the coast.
Champion' slip and a little local history.
Black gold and big pollack
Fish of the day on the western (netters) end of the market were a good run of pollack were evident from the likes of the CKS and inshore boat Girl Pamela to name but two.....
down at the heavyweight beamer end, box after box of black gold .....
greeted the buyers this morning.....
while the box washer was made to work overtime.....
with the rest of the 14 tons of cuttles filling the cold storage space.....
room for a handful of big squid on show.
Through the Gaps headed to the big smoke for the weekend taking in a visit to Britain's best kept secret of the Second World War, one personally supported and watched over by the great man himself......
there are regular guided tours to get the most from a visit to what has become known as Station X (something of a misnomer but the guide reveals all!) and the subject of a rather wistful film in comparison to the real heroic story of Bletchley Park and the birth of programmable computing - all started to the genorosity of a Polishman, Lt Col. Langer, the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau in 1939 who called a meeting between French and British intelligence representatives, and the rest, as they say, is history but not that was known for over thirty years.....
eventually, for the purposes of a bloig post, a fishing connection was made, here the guide points to one of ten Colossi machines all codenamed after fish, this one was the Tunny machine......
almost every piece of code breaking machinery was destroyed after the war, this is the replica 'Bombe' built for the film Enigma.......
set in idyllic surroundings, Leon House and Bletchley Park were home to most of the 9,000 staff, mainly young woman, who worked in secret, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the duration of the war decrypting the coded communications that, it is estimated, shortened the war by two years- nothing was known of their work until 1974, and, even then, the men and women who worked there never spoke of this - exemplified by the guide who related an incident from a couple of years ago when a very elderly lady on the tour corrected him on a number of occassions throughout the tour; slightly exasperated, her somewhat intrigued husband turned to her and asked her how she knew all these small details, she replied that she knew because she had worked there, "well I'm blowed" he said, "so did I"!
