The departure for the islands

Towards the end of the 19th century, the demand for seaweed for the iodine industry prompted the seaweed harvesters to set out and work the vast kelp fields around the islands. The crews loaded onto their boats the cart, the horse and all the equipment needed to live and work on the islands, from March to September.

The arrival of the harvesters in such numbers did not fail to provoke reactions from the islanders. Nicknames were given to them according to the area where they went to work. On the islands of the Molène archipelago, they were the “pigouillers” (ar bigouilherien), named after the long pole used to manoeuvre the boat in shallow water. On the eastern islands (Callot, Siek, Sept-Îles, Île-Grande), the influx of seaweed-harvesting fleets earned them the name “the Japanese” (ar Japoned), a reference to the attack on Port Arthur in 1904, when the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet.