the dundee leaving etel

Lucy Kempton added her words to a postcard titled “The Dundee leaving Etel,” a facsimile of an original photograph from the tuna fishing museum in Etel in Morbihan, south Brittany. Kempton writes,

Tuna fishing was one of the main industries of the region until the first half of the last century. We found ourselves unexpectedly moved and haunted by the artifacts and accounts of a hard and dangerous way of life, and the devotional objects — carved shrines, nativities, inscribed prayers and so on — which the fishermen made. I would have liked to have sent the actual postcard snail-mail and handwritten the poem, because I like the idea of that, but it was a limited edition one and a bit precious, and I couldn’t bring myself to part with it!