A trawler is alongside the quay. In for repairs to an hydraulic lift. A forklift truck, angle grinder and sledge hammers have been deployed, to good effect. Now there is time to yarn in the sun. To explain how it used to be in the good old days.
And they are within living memory. A fleet of goelettes (schooners) fished the Newfoundland Banks, for Cod, from Fecamp. Every winter, until the two World Wars put an end to the trade. They returned, holds laden with salted down fish, each spring.
Old traditions are kept alive. The handful of near-water trawlers, based here, still land their haul on the historic fish wharf - and sell direct to the public.
Some of the boats live on too. The goelette Milpat has been meticulously restored, her blue topsides gleaming proudly. Fittingly, today she lays off the Halle des Pecheurs (Fishermen’s Market), waiting for the bridge to open.
All hands are on deck to hoist the heavy main gaff.
The smaller, Profeseur Gosset, lies waiting for her crew.
They soon tumble aboard and waste no time in rigging up and casting off.
The tide carries the two goelettes down towards Cap d’Antifer. Barely a zephyr ruffles a silky sea.
Tomorrow a westerly breeze is forecast to return. The tide begins to set east, past the chalk bluff of Pointe Fagnet, from mid afternoon.
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