It has been 5 years since I had been in Falmouth, the previous time was very brief though as I just signed off St Helena in 2021 and drove off towards Hull and the time before that was in 2019 for Illusion Plus inspecting her limo tender built by Cockwells. All work, no fun, well, maybe a little bit.
St Anthony lighthouse off Falmouth
This time though arrived with via sea for real and sailed in the face of a gale warning, the night had been a bit lumpy and had to slow down as we were taking greenies on deck, we still made good time and arrived just an hour later than estimated. Vessel had behaved well, nothing broken or leaking, few coffee cups had smashed to pieces when they jumped out of a cupboard but otherwise on the whole all was ok apart from my ratings that were suffering from seasickness.
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The RFA's are here queuing up for service at A&P yard
Wind was pushing us up the channel at 26kts with 30+kts in the gusts, as I turned towards Pendennis yard and Queen's jetty the wind came down and further in I had like 18kts left. Still it was pushing me off the pontoon but with quick line handling we got the springs ashore and then slowly warped her in without any damages. After gangway was put out the engineers were quick to connect us to shore power and fresh water. Then the boys rinsed the yacht down from all the salt and grime from our short transit.
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Gypsy Blue with lugger rig (similar to Chinese junks)
As we were tidying up, a chap introduced himself as Mr Robin Stacey. He stopped on the pontoon and asked if we're interested to see some treasure. It turned out he is a treasure hunter (famous from the Treasure Island program) and claimed he had found the wreck or treasure of the Indian ship from the 1695's, namely the Ganj-e-Sawai from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in local waters.
Henry Every is depicted on shore while his ship, the Fancy, engages an unidentified vessel.
(credit: Wikipedia)
It is said that the loot was considerable as per this article, $600.000 back in the day. Researching on I understand the Ganj-e-Sawai was in a large Mughal Fleet convoy near Bab-el-Mandeb strait enroute to Surat and then captured and eventually ransacked by English pirate Henry Every and his fleet of pirate ships. The stories left from the time tells it was a very brutal episode where many people were murdered, tortured and raped. On 12 October 1695, Sir John Gayer, then-governor of Bombay and president of the East India Company, sent a letter to the Lords of Trade, writing:
It is certain the Pyrates, which these People affirm were all English, did do very barbarously by the People of the Ganj-i-sawai and Abdul Gofor's Ship, to make them confess where their Money was, and there happened to be a great Umbraws Wife (as Wee hear) related to the King, returning from her Pilgrimage to Mecha, in her old age. She they abused very much, and forced several other Women, which Caused one person of Quality, his Wife and Nurse, to kill themselves to prevent the Husbands seeing them (and their being) ravished. (credit: Wikipedia)
A woodcut showing pirate Henry Every that appears in Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (London: Midwinter, 1725)
(credit: Wikipedia)
The Ganj-e-Sawai is said to have been able to limp back to India where the Mughal Aurangzeb upon learning the news went on a warpath and stopped all trade with UK and the factories based in India as well as was on his way to throw all Brits off the subcontinent but was in the end appeased by the East India Company.
Some Mughal coins found by Mr Stacey
The Mughal Aurangzeb had the pirate Every wanted in all major ports of India, Bombay, Surat, Broach, Agra and Ahmedabad and sent army contingencies to each city. Some crew was eventually arrested and executed as well as the East India Company paid reparations to Mughal Aurangzeb in order to resume trade. Meanwhile Every had managed to escape to Nassau in the Caribbean on his ship Fancy and from there he managed to get to Ireland on a sloop named Sea Flower. The pirate captain Henry Every again avoided arrest and disappeared, maybe this time he had attempted to get to UK but his boat sank enroute with the loot he had with him. The treasure is estimated in todays value to be in total around 400mil USD but having read that much of it had been divided out I doubt the whole prize was with him, still, what a story I had stumbled on!
Local residents own marina
Same from the lookout tower at the museum
Falmouth maritime museum
Venues next to the museum
Heritage boat building going on
When entering the museum one gets straight into the heritage boat building workshop to see their current project and just outside was a replica of a Viking faering boat also built there. Beside the boat was a box of replica tools, also still in use today by traditional shipwrights.
Small craft from different places and eras
Small craft from different places and eras
Viking-age Faering Archaeological Replica 2015
A faering is an open boat with two pairs of oars.
This boat was built by traditional boat building students from Falmouth Marine School, supported by the boat team at National Maritime Museum Cornwall.
It is an exact replica of a 1,000-year-old boat found in Gokstad, Norway, buried alongside a larger Viking ship. Both the faering and the ship were built in the same way. Each had a carved, pointed end at the prow and stern, and with overlapping planks attached to a long, thin wooden keel or 'spine' at the base. This technique is called 'clinker construction' and has been used by boat builders in Northern Europe since at least the Early Middle Ages.
Very similar boats can still be found in Norway and other parts of the North Sea today.
Tapestry showing shipwrights at work
Scandinavian shipwrights tools
As I walked around I came to an exhibit wall with placards telling about piracy and there was the same picture I had seen online of Henry Every (from Charles Johnsons book in 1724) and a short mention of the raid on the Mughal Aurangzeb's convoy.
Cornish pirates & privateers
During the hundred years war 1337 - 1453 and in the 1600's, privateers played a crucial role in national naval defense as the British navy was not very strong. Coastal towns like Falmouth and Fowey became hotspots for privateering but the line became blurred between piracy and so the men involved often played both sides of the coin. Men like Mark and John Michelstow and the Killigrew family became notorious for piracy. The picture above depicts Lady Killigrew in the 2023 short film Queen of Kernow.
Golden age of Piracy/ North African pirates
From the mid 1600's to early 1700's many Cornish pirates moved from their homes to the Caribbean and Indian ocean in search of prizes on the sea. Names such as Robert Culliford from Looe sailed with Captain Kidd both as pirate and privateer. Culliford wreaked havoc in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and was captured but later pardoned as part of a general amnesty. The most successful pirate is mentioned Henry Every who was from near Plymouth and born in 1659. They have at legend that he brought the prize of Ganj-e-Sawai t the Cornish coast and buried it somewhere near Lizard. Maybe, who knows, until Mr Rob Stacey that I mentioned above, gets his find verified.
In addition to the homegrown pirates there was also the North African scourge called the barbary pirates, they mostly kidnapped people for ransom or slavery. Their modus operandi was to attack ships at sea and carry away the crew. This was part of the Christian and Muslim power struggle that had effects all the way to the Cornish coast. Surprise surprise, nothing much seems to have changed since then, there are still skirmishes in Middle east and rhetoric being thrown around between faiths...
Smuggling
Like in many places the Gov't taxes were not liked much and avoided if possible, the cornish coast was perfect for it with their many hidden coves and creeks with tunnels and stairs chipped in to the rock. The smuggling had its heyday in the 1800's.
Old map of Cornwall, testament of the rugged coast
RNLI heritage, the early days
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has been saving lives since 1824, I'm pretty sure the treacherous waters around the Cornish coast has contributed to the development of RNLI due to the multiple wrecks that happened in decades before when sailing ships got lost and drifted on the rocks in storms and bad weather. The stories of locals lighting lights to mislead ships are not confirmed by the museum as not having been documented anywhere, maybe it did happen, maybe it didn't, still wrecking was also a local pastime where they took prize of the cargo the wrecked ship may have been carrying.
s/s Bay of Panama rescue contributing to RNLI development
Bay of Panama ran aground at Nare point near the Helford river entrance in 1891. She was dismasted during a great Blizzard. The coast gueard was alerted the next morning by a farmer and they arrived with a rocket wagon and managed to shoot a line over and rig a breeches buoy. 17 of 40 crew rescued this way, the rest had succumbed ot hypothermia or swept overboard.
Poster of a famous curio shop in Falmouth
John Bull, packet boat entrepreneur
Falmouth was also a seat of the advent of packet ships and Mr John Bull was one of the largest entrepreneurs of the time. The packets ships served mostly for immigrants going for new lands in the Americas and other parts of the Empire.
Another packet boat model
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Packet boat general arrangement
The packet ships were very cramped, the cabins had no porthole and they shared a common mess with the officers. It was expected that passengers brought many items by themselves such as bedding and food for the inward passage (outward the food was included). The weather deck was loaded with livestock and other stuff, passengers were not allowed to socialize with the crew or climb the rigging.
Packet boat price list
Travel posters for cruise ships
Travel posters for cruise ships
Fishing was a major industry, a lot of it went for export to e.g. Italy
By the 1860's Falmouth was so famous that most ships arriving from abroad called "Falmouth for orders" as e.g. their cargo of wheat may have exchanged hands as many times as 20 on the exchange. The port is 3rd largest natural port in the world after Rio de Janeiro and Sydney so no wonder it was a preferred destination for replenishing provisions and sails as well as when the telegrams worked they got their orders from their Agents like Mr. Fox.
Threemasted barque calling Falmouth at Carrick roads
Captain Snellman's Five Visits to Falmouth
I visited Falmouth altogether five times during my years at sea which lasted from 1842 to 1890, all of them on sailing ships. All these vessels came from Finland which also is my home country.
The first visit took place in the summer of 1853. I came to Falmouth with a small brig called Rosina. It was my first command as captain and I took her to Bahia, from where the ship's agents had contracted a cargo of sugar 'to Falmouth for orders'.
Captain Snellman's story of Falmouth
I was naturally rather excited when we approached Falmouth. Outside Lizard we were approached by a small vessel which turned out to be a pilot cutter from Falmouth. I was relieved to get a pilot on board as these waters were strange to me. He took us in and found us good anchorage on Carrick Roads.
No sooner had we entered the bay when a number of small sailing vessels left the harbour and headed towards us with considerable speed. Our pilot told me these were quay punts racing towards us; the first to reach us would have the right to handle all traffic from ship to shore during the time ve lay on the roads. Already before we had dropped the anchor one of the punts had reached the ship, a man had climbed aboard and announced he was 'our punt'. It was impossible to turn down that enterprising young man, especially after the pilot had explained to me this was the accepted custom Falmouth.
So, after we had secured the ship I boarded a punt together with the pilot and was taken ashore to see Mr Fox who was the Russian Vice Consul (Finland being a Grand Duchy of Russia). In Falmouth, as in some other places, the Russian Consul also ran a ships' agency, which meant that I would find my orders at his office.
Captain Snellman and wife spent their honeymoon in Falmouth
Mr Fox duly gave me my orders. I was to take the bulk of my cargo to Amsterdam and bring the rest of the sugar all the way to the home port in Oulu (Uleåborg in Swedish) on the Gulf of Bothnia. I sent one of the crew ashore to get medical treatment while we bought some provisions (bread, butter, tar and sail cloth). My first visit in Falmouth left me with a positive impression. We received efficient, even eager service, had a good sheltered harbour and the people were friendly which was, I presume, at least partly motivated by an attempt to create and maintain brisk business.
Mr. Fox, the agent and consul of Russia
I then climbed the lookout tower with great views over Falmouth in all directions, unfortunately the balcony was closed for all public so had to take pictures through the windows. Still, great views and one realizes how large the port actually is.
View from lookout tower
View from lookout tower
Real size divers outfit
Divers with suit that was used until mid 1950's by shipyards
Entrance to the yard is done via the A&P yard
The seafarers lounge in A&P yard
From the museum I walked to the Pendennis shipyard for a meeting for a possible refit and toured their premises with many projects underway. At the end of the tour I saw a couple of miniatures in their meeting room/ lounge.
The Amazone by Thornycroft yard in 1934
As I was done with the meeting I walked back onboard and saw this bird from Star Wars showing off his force...
Then the day after we left Falmouth in a brisk gale, I was a bit worried about getting away but it all worked out well and soon enough we were hugging the coast trying to get the smallest fetch from the NW'ly wind.
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