HMS Centaur

28 March 2023

The arrival of HMS Beagle

The voyage of HMS Beagle, captained by Robert Fitzroy and containing the young Charles Darwin is justly famous. At the end of a five year circumnavigation, […]
17 March 2023

A Smuggler’s Cottage?

Finding real evidence of smuggling is difficult. The trial of Charles Carter in 1793 contained tantalising reports of spaces or caves which had been found under […]
15 March 2023

When Falmouth avoided a big bang

A chance remark in a funeral eulogy led to the discovery of a first-hand story from 1972 when Falmouth narrowly avoided a potentially disastrous explosion caused […]
21 February 2023

D’Alvimart – An unpleasant shipmate?

The French Revolution brought challenges for anyone with royalist connections. One such was Gaetan D’Alvimart who is mentioned in a letter written by Captain McLeod of […]
20 February 2023

Tracking the Mystery

The story of how seven men sailed a 37ft lugger, the Mystery, to Australia is a familiar story in Cornwall. A recent discovery is a copy […]
11 December 2022

A Broad appreciation …

Volunteer Linda Bachelor tripped over a lovely thank you message from 1806 recently, tracking how an unsolicited thank you may have led to a benefit to […]
29 November 2022

Windfall Yachts database

We have added a database of Windfall yachts to our DataBank. This contains summary information about these German-built yachts, culled from the definitive book by Mike […]
7 September 2022

Red herrings, time-wasters and digressions …

You know that feeling when you trip over something fascinating when you are meant to be looking for something else? Well we do this all the […]
16 August 2022

Hoods Boys and the taking of Diamond Rock

Just occasionally, a happy team experiences a magic moment when everything seems to go right. The early months of 1804, aboard HMS Centaur, 74, under Commodore […]
5 April 2022

The Ceuta papers

We need your help. We have a series of mystery papers probably written in early 1810 which turned up in a car boot sale in Falmouth […]
26 October 2021

Access our Databank

The Bartlett holds upward of fifty different databases on maritime subjects, many of which are growing daily thanks to the work of the tireless volunteers. Our […]
10 May 2021

Weathering the Storm

A new referreed article has been published in Troze, our associate online publication. It looks at the first few decades of Falmouth as a Trust Port. […]
30 June 2022

John Donaldson Boswall

We know a great deal about John Donaldson, as he was called during his time serving under Commodore Hood. It was only in 1812 that he […]
30 June 2022

George Edward Byron Bettesworth

George Bettesworth was the second son of John Bettesworth of Carhayes, Cornwall. In October 1807, his cousin, Lord Byron, wrote: Next January … I am going […]
30 June 2022

Hood’s Boys

The image created by John Eckstein neatly summarises the group we have called ‘Hood’s Boys’. It probably shows the team behind the establishment of the Diamond […]
30 June 2022

HMS Curieux and the Trafalgar Campaign

Having been captured from the French in February 1804, HMS Curieux had been an active member of Hood’s squadron. The unexpected arrival of the French and […]
30 June 2022

Life on Diamond Rock

We are fortunate in having a very full account of life ‘on board’ Diamond Rock in an account which appeared in two parts in the Tyne […]
30 June 2022

The loss of Diamond Rock

After its fortification early in 1804, Diamond Rock continued as a stone frigate under the command of Capt. Maurice for over a year. Then, in the […]
20 June 2022

John Eckstein

John Eckstein (1765-1837) was not, strictly, one of Hood’s Boys but he was present on Diamond Rock and has left us a unique record of the […]
20 June 2022

Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock off Martinique has gone down in history as the first ‘stone frigate’ owned by the Royal Navy. The Navy of the time was precluded […]
20 June 2022

HMS Curieux

The 290 ton French corvette Curieux was launched on September 20th, 1800. At 97ft over all she had a compliment of 94 men and 16 guns. […]