大象传媒

Michel Corolleur was the Captain of the lifeboat on the Breton Island of Molene and a prodigious lifesaver with a reputation for heroism undimmed since the award of his Legion d'honneur in the Great War.

At the fall of France he brought his lifeboat and its crew to Newlyn, near to Penzance, leaving his wife and nine of his ten children on Molene. He never returned home alive.

This action preceded the transfer of the men of the neighbouring Isle of Sein to Britain usually quoted as the first act of Resistance within the French Republic's territory.

Whilst in Newlyn he was registered as a fisherman on the boat Rouanez ar Mor, though his lifeboat was often seen here and there and believed to be regularily crossing the Channel on war work.

He lived in Boase Street with his eldest son a Free French Submariner.

He died in West Cornwall hospital and was buried in Penzance Cemetary after a large funeral at the Roman Catholic church there.
Attending the funeral were town dignitaries from Penzance and Scilly, local fishermen and RNLI,a large number of refugees living in Mount's Bay and gun parties from the Free French and Royal Navies.

The Breton people brought their language and their name from the Island of Britain and especially from Cornwall. Many place and family names are shared between the Breton and Cornish peoples. Below is a verse from my poem Michel Corolleur in Cornish, Breton and French which will show how close the 2 celtic languages are, and how distant from French or English.

Kernewek

Tramor Ankow. y'n pleg-mor pell,
hag y'n ganel ha war'n mor a-dro.
Yn Pennsans marow. Dhe'n gorwel merwel.

Brezhoneg

Tramor Ankou, er plegmor pell,
hag er C'hanol gant an mor tro dro.
E Pennsant mervel. Mervel e dremmwel.

Francais

Hors du pays.Trepas.dans la baie distante,
meme sur la Manche et la mer autour.
A l'horizon mourir. S'eteindre a Penzance.

Cornish people are always struck by the familiarity of Britanny and its people.
It is to be hoped that M Corolleur felt this too and enjoyed his stay in Newlyn despite the circumstances. His burial in Penzance was as appropriate as his exhumation and transfer to Molene after the war.

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