Seraphyn Dequidt was born on January 3, 1858 in Oeren near Veurne. In 1881, one year before his priestly ordination, he was appointed as a teacher at his former secondary school, the Episcopal College of the Immaculate Conception in Veurne. In 1893 he heads the Sint-Leo College in Bruges and, as a writer and poet, befriends Guido Gezelle. Due to his poor health, he was ordained on February 6, 1906 as a priest of the Sint-Pietersparochie in De Panne.
Already during the first contacts he hears what is troubling the population, the construction of Panne-Schuilhaven. Seraphyn Dequidt invites his childhood friend Professor Emiel Vliebergh to De Panne during the Holy Week and he expresses in an article what people are concerned about; text appeared in May issue 1906 of Dietsche Warande en Belfort and used the same year by H.J. Helleputte in a plea before the Chamber of Representatives.
The socially engaged Seraphyn is very popular with the fishermen. Under the pseudonym Elmo, he realistically describes the life of the fishermen in various articles in the 'Vlaamsche Zeevisscher'. Despite his failing health, he is their fervent advocate for a safe haven.
But on July 1, 1911, priest Seraphyn Dequidt dies.
Initially, the intention is only to build a shelter; a port where larger fishing boats can moor without the full infrastructure and associated industry of a real port. Those more modern barges would eventually replace the potholes that stranded and were lifted back at the next high tide. A technical committee is set up, study trips are organised, reports are written. Three designs for a real harbor see the light at the end of 1908… The years pass. And then it's war.
For a detailed account, see source.
Period
1900-1914
Dating
July 1911
(Main) municipality
The Panne, The Panne
Source of information
BAUWENS JACQUES, Pannese fishermen once dreamed of their 'own' harbour!, Written in Het Zand, Berquin Hans, Antilope, 2007, oral source
Translated by Google •
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