Breton fleet head for Golowan Penzance.

Golowan is pleased to welcome a fleet of Breton traditional craft to Penzance with the cooperation of the twinning committees of Penzance and Concarneau, the Town Council and Neil Clark, Penzance Harbour Master.
The "Marche Avec” is the emblematic boat of Concarneau. The Mayor of Concarneau is coming over on one of the boats that are commemorating the 70th anniversary of the voyage from the Ile de Sein, off the Breton coast, to escape the Nazi occupation and organize resistance from Cornwall.
The crossing celebrates two things. The first is to celebrate "le Corbeau des Mers", a fishing boat from L' Ile de Sein.
The men from L' Ile de Sein heard the call by General De Gaulle on 18 June 1940 and all of them left to help fight the invaders. De Gaulle's call on the BBC to France was never recorded but it influenced the French not to surrender completely.
Le Corbeau des Mers left the Ile de Sein at 21.30 on 26 June 1940 with 22 men on board and arrived the next day at Newlyn. Le Corbeau des Mers had to return to the Ile de Sein in September 1940 as all the women & children were starving. The Germans did not have the resources to feed them.
Le Corbeau is the last remaining navigable boat from this period and belongs to the French National Resistance Museum at Nantes, so although an ordinary fishing boat she is held, in French eyes, as something far more important than that. The Bretons were the first to establish any form of organised resistance to the Germans and it was all done by Breton fishing boats from Cornwall sailing to the Atlantic Finisterre coast.
The second aim is to celebrate the work of one particular Frenchman from Pont Aven. At the age of 19 he tried to escape to England by joining fishing boats in the Bay of Biscay in order to get a lift to Cornwall. In September 1940 he managed, on his third attempt to get to Cornwall. His name was Daniel Lomenech and for 2 years he became the most successful sailor between Cornwall and West Finisterre.
1942 he joined the RNVR submarine service and was twice decorated with the DSO. After the war he returned to Pont Aven to rebuild his parents factory.
Both his parents were in the underground resistance "Johnny Group" but were taken along with his sister to concentration camps in Germany. Only his sister returned but she died soon afterwards.
It is hoped his son Hervé Lomenech will be on board for the trip to Cornwall.
At the end of the 80's the French government decided that the fishing ports of France should have a locally built traditional boat to represent their heritage. These were all built and most of them launched about 1992.
Apart from le Corbeau these are the boats coming over, they all belong to the towns they represent and are maintained by the town council. (See photos).
The crews are all volunteers and pay for themselves. They are getting a civic farewell at Concarneau before they leave, so there will be plenty of time to sober up before they arrive!