A history of cornwall online - through its objects
Maritime
Nowhere in Cornwall is more than seventeen miles from the coast and the sea has been essential to the lives of the people of Cornwall for generations: initially for food, and later for trade.
Medieval records are full of stories of piracy and attacks from the sea, preying on fishermen, trade and the country itself. The break with Catholic Europe brought new opportunities for trade in pilchards and illicit trade of wines and spirits.
By the 17th century, Britain was starting to turn herself into the great maritime nation of the world and Cornwall, stuck out into the Atlantic, played an essential role as the first and last landfall. Falmouth began its rise to the become the great port of the county when the Packet ships were based here, carrying the mails to and from the growing empire.
Rudimentary navigation made Cornwall’s coast a hazard for any arriving ships and the coats has more than its fair share of disasters. Legends grew up of wreckers luring ships onto rocky cliffs to claim the bounty of the sea. But others were concerned for the loss of life and people like Henry Trengrouse were moved by great disasters to design rescue apparatus to save lives.
The 19th century saw a change in emphasis as more and more goods arrived from around the world and ships would arrive desperate for news, fresh water, food and supplies. In Falmouth they would be serviced by the ‘white vans’ of the harbour: the quay punts.
A brisk maritime trade grew up. Coal was imported to drive the mine engines while china clay, copper and tin ore, and other minerals were exported. Traders carried goods between the many harbours and rivers at a time when roads were still in a very poor state. Ashore, skilled craftsmen helped keep the ships and boats afloat.
The arrival of steam power and other modes of transport meant that the maritime trade of Cornwall was to decline being replaced by small-scale fishing and leisure. Nothing could change Cornwall’s position or its importance as the first and last mainland for vessels arriving form the oceans and people like Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Ellen MacArthur made good use of it on their circumnavigations.