Monsieur Tertuff, emblematic Cherbourg merchant at the head of the fishing temple

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Here is a figure of our good old Cherbourg (Manche)!

Mr Tertuff was at the head of a fishing tackle store located rue du Port. Between 1940 et 1994he was the king of the reel.

“Exceptional guys”

His shop was an institutionthe meeting place for fishermen. Many Cherbourg residents still remember him, always dressed in his navy blue sweater behind his counter.

The man, who had experienced warkept a very bad memory of the Germans. His friends, they were the resistanceof whom he kept fond memories: Émile Lepoittevin or Yves Gresselin. “Exceptional guys,” as Mr. Tertuff said.

Ali Baba's cave of fishermen

Before retireMr. Tertuff recalled his memories of youthbut also evolution of her beloved rue du Port: “In this street, there was Madame Burnouf who held a tobacco and then there was the grocery store by Madame Bléas.

The young people of Notre-Dame district had given Mr. Tertuff the nickname “Mr. Tuff”, as if he were a character from a comic stripat the head of a store, real Ali Baba cave fishermen.

Stars

Appointed supplier of Cherbourg residents, Monsieur Tertuff's boutique also welcomed some personalitiesand not least, as he liked to say:

My first client was Marcel Allain, one of the two authors of Fantômas. In 1940, Jean Gabin came to buy me a black raincoat. He was mobilized, second master. He often came to see me. Zavatta too, a hell of a fisherman. Yves Montand or even Charlotte Gainsbourg, who wanted a raincoat.

But in his memories, there were also the filming of the Umbrellas of Cherbourgrue du Port. He had a front row seat to witness the filming.

Our Mr. Tertuff was an old Cherbourg resident, because he had took over the family businesswhich was previously run by his father, Pierre Tertuff, a Breton who settled in Cherbourg in 1917 after marrying a Cherbourgeoise.

3,000 mackerel

But in his father's time, there was everything in the store: shoesof Marseille soap or even boxer shorts… But he will make it strictly a fishing temple.

The man sold fishing tackle, but he was mainly an enthusiast angling. Mr. Tertuff’s best catch? Most certainly a four-foot coalfish or even the memory of having fished, with his friend Émile Lepoittevin, 3,000 mackerel:

We distributed them everywhere, in the hospital and in a summer camp.

Evoking Monsieur Tertuff is also remembering his wife, a united and inseparable couple from Cherbourg at that time.

For local history, Mr. Tertuff will remain the master of the leader, always with a little advice for its customers.

Nicolas CALLUAUD

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