Description

No one would think from his friendly and informal style that Ken Shearwood was a housemaster at a public school. Nor would most people ima-gine that the familiar but little under-stood craft which provides his first book with a lively narrative and some juicy characters was as arduous an ad-venture as he found it at the time or as fascinating as he has made it in his story. After the war he bought a small boat and joined the handful of Mevagissey fishermen who carry on a daily battle against the subtleties of fish and the dangers of the sea off the coast of Corn-wall. He and his wife grew naturally into village life as they found it. Constantly making mistakes, breaking unwritten laws and solving problems in a most unorthodox fashion, he never ceased to regard himself as an amateur, a landlubber who never truly found his sea-feet. This total lack of self-importance which makes him a very enjoyable companion. Whether he is playing football, squeezing his boat out of a nasty situation or making a new friend, his sense of adventure is keen, and his eye as fresh as the sea itself. "The simple terrors of his first trip away from the rest of the fleet in darkness and bad weather off the Dodman are splendidly described and informed with the subtle rhythms of fishing itself. With the lightest of touches [he] conveys vividly the dangers and disasters that attend the work." - Sunday Times "A delightfully valuable Cornish volume." - The Cornishman