Diary of a Cornish Fisherman: Newquay, 1962-1967 by Trevor Simpson

Life in a Cornish fishing community in 1960s is the subject of this fascinating memoir, told in a style that is warm, engaging, humorous and packed full of incident.

Trevor Simpson started keeping a diary, "to record the weather and the numbers of crawfish and lobsters we caught. Basically that, together with the areas we fished, was supposed to be all of it. It just kind of grew then so that before very long, I was adding scraps of information about what was happening to other fishermen besides us. As the year advanced, more and more details were added. Snatches of conversations were included and sometimes stories recounted to us by other people, were faithfully written up."

The diary covers the years 1962 to 1967, just up to the point when the author decides to move to Ireland, thus beginning a new, as yet untold, chapter in the story. The diary itself remained in a box in an attic for forty years, before being taken out and dusted off and offered up for public consumption.

Just reading through it has triggered so many memories. Suddenly, I am 'down harbour' again and standing on the yellow sand. The sun is baking the seaweed on the harbour wall and it smells good. The boats are all made of wood and smartly painted. As the tide floods into the harbour, the boats come afloat. The crews slip their moorings and the boats head out to sea, their mizzen sails are barked canvas, red-brown in colour. Ropes are made of manila or sisal. The skippers and the crewmen are young and strong. The diary shines a light on those times and on our working lives.

This is a book that will appeal to anyone who has gone to sea, or wishes that they had. Generously illustrated, complete with a glossary of nautical and fishing terms, it doesn’t just introduce the reader to the life of the seafarer; it invites you in.

Diary of a Cornish Fisherman: Newquay, 1962-1967 by Trevor Simpson
Non-fiction, autobiography, memoir, seafishing, coastal communities, 1960s, Cornwall
182 printed pages (includes glossary of angling and nautical terms) illustrated in black and white with photos and drawings, paperback
First published in Ireland, in 2014, by The Manuscript Publisher
ISBN: 978-0-9576729-2-5

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