On four long voyages between 1984 and 1998, photographer and sailor Jean Gaumy lived at sea, documenting the fishermen's daily struggle.He braved the high seas on the last open-decked trawlers, remnants of an earlier age.
In his log book he renders an eloquent testimony to the end of an era. Gaumy's love of the sea, of boats, and of the thrill of the catch shines through this stirring tribute to a difficult and disappearing way of life.
“Hurled when the boat dives, the steep and greasy stairs we climb become a pestle as we go over a wave. The iron airlock. The sticky air of diesel vapors. The large linoleum imitation floor, blistered, brown and greasy. Everything flutters about. The portholes’ light is dancing on the walls and behind the thick glass, the sea runs off distorting the vision. The unpredictable gray sky devastated with spindrifts, and the ocean at the edge, full of white flurries.” – Jean Gaumy, Extract from Pleine Mer: Men At Sea,
