Fishing under Guard during the German Occupation of Guernsey

Martha Martel (née Hubert) interviewed by Lynne Ashton of the Guernsey Museum.
Recording transcribed and edited by J David

Mrs Martel. And then my Father used to go fishing, but with a German guard, and again, when a boat disappeared, we’d all be punished, and that time my uncle did disappear, for five weeks, I believe, not a fisherman could leave any of the harbours.
I….….….. Good gracious, so where had your uncle gone?
Mrs Martel. He went to England.
I….….….. He got there? He actually got to England?
Mrs Martel. Yes, they did get there, the whole boat load.
I….….….. But it penalised the rest of the community.
Mrs Martel. Yes, we were all punished then, and then when they started to go fishing again, where they would have had one guard in a boat, perhaps of several boats and they all had to sort of keep close to each other, that time they had to have a guard each in their boats. But they loved conger eels, and they dry those in the summer and keep them for the winter, and they asked my father to sell some to them and he said “No, I won’t sell you a thing,” he said “I want food for that”. And they said “We’ll be shot”, and my father said “So will I, if I’m caught exchanging this with you”. Anyway we did have extra bread, but it had maggots in, but we used to pick the maggots out.

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