Page 12 - Yachter Spring 2023

12 CRUISING REPORTS
A CURIOUS INCIDENT AT NEWLYN
Last July we were making our
way down the coast of Devon and Cornwall towards the Isles of Scilly, our final destination. One of the ports we particularly enjoy visiting along the way is Newlyn where we share the end pontoons, the rest being allocated to the fishing fleet and a resident seal.
We were enjoying a well-earned cup of tea when we heard a loud thump, the cause
of which was a visiting yacht which had
just arrived on the other side of our shared pontoon. She had managed to enter the allocated space without causing any damage, but had been out of control enough to hit the bow onto the pontoon in front which caused them to come to an abrupt halt.An effective way to stop! We assumed they had some problem with the throttle.
There were about five men on deck
but only one seemed to know anything about securing the boat, and the others just watched him.We saw the yacht was a French hire boat which went someway to explain the lack of seamanship; more because it was a hire boat, not because they were French.
It should be said at this point the men were all dark skinned and of Arab looking descent, but then so are a lot of Frenchmen.
In the early evening all those onboard the yacht came on deck, bringing out shabby sleeping bags to air and sat in the cockpit in a dejected manner without making much in the way of conversation. Perhaps they had lost their damage deposit?
Our interest was aroused even more the following morning when it was obvious that yesterday’s crew had all left the yacht and
in their place a smartly dressed couple had arrived with expensive kit bags and ‘looking the part’.
We were due to leave but it was at this point we decided to make a visit to the Harbour Master to report what we had seen. He was surprised as he said this particular yacht often visited their Marina. However, he decided to contact Border Force to report the incident.
We left that morning but a month later when re-visiting Newlyn we swung by the
Harbour Office to find out what if anything had happened after we left. It was as we suspected.The men were illegal immigrants and had been picked up ashore further down the coast looking very lost.
It made us wonder just how many others had used this quiet sleepy marina, with no harbour employee presence on the pontoons whatsoever to enter the UK.
Petra Abecasis