Crystal Sea Trawling Blog

Day 2 of our research trip started quietly enough just as well after the day before's events , then in the afternoon we were on our last haul of the day when suddenly the engine started to ease and I quickly knocked the boat out of gear so we went to haul our nets on the auxillary engine.

After hauling we checked the prop shaft to see if would turn by hand it wouldn't so we asuumedthat the propellor was afoul so we organised a tow to the scillies , luckily for us the research vessel James cook offered us a tow he said it was the least he could do after we got his valuable sonar equipment back.

It was a difficult tow as the weather had worsened by now to ese 6-7 head wind making it a hard punch the 80 miles back to the scillies but both crews done a great job controlling the tow.

We arrived at the scilles early the next morning and the Saint Marys lifeboat took us into the sound where we dropped anchor, then we needed a diver so we were told mark was the best man for the job, there was  a lot of net in the prop and it was wound in really tight but after many hours mark got it out with knives and chissles. we left the scillies and headed back to Newlyn everything now seems fine.

Many thanks to all who helped we appreciated very much but I think we 'll leave Jones bank for another day.