Smuggling and wrecking

The late Tony Pawlyn analysed Robert Coath’s petition, cross-referencing it with known records. By some of the phrasing and vocabulary I do not think this account […]

Most stories of smuggling understandably concentrate on the smugglers/free traders, seeing things through their eyes as they attempt to evade the long arm of the Law. […]

Robert Coath’s Petition to the Excise Commissioners for Superannuation: 15th January 1819 An analysis of some of Robert Coath’s claims are available here. Honorable Sirs, I […]

The Gibson photographs of Prussia Cove Prussia Cove is famous for the stories of the Carter family and especially of John, the self-styled ‘King’ of Prussia. […]

Hilary Tunstall-Behrens looks at an incident from HM Sloop Fairy’s later career which is oddly similar to an account in Fairy’s log book for 1795. As […]

During the summer of 1779 there was a great fear of invasion from France. The whole Channel coast was in alarm, and hasty anti­-invasion preparations were […]

It can hardly comes as a surprise to read that the ‘Gaugers‘ or the Revenue Officers, were very unpopular in coastal communities. Legal or not, the […]

HM Royal Navy, its Admirals (well most of them), officers and seamen were renowned for their courage and bravery, and the amazing camaraderie of the guns’ […]

Why, apart from unlawful and nefarious purposes, would the few inhabitants of a small Cornish cove mount a battery of cannon to command its seaward approaches? […]

So, is the tradition that the Fairy was fired on by the Carters’ battery at Prussia’s Cove founded on fact or is it, like a tale […]

The Fairy under Capt William Yeo had returned to Plymouth in November 1782 from convoy duties in Newfoundland, and on 31st December 1782, Capt William Thomas […]

Between 1766 and 1778, some 25 Swan Class sloops were built for the Royal Navy. One of the last of these was HM Sloop Fairy, launched […]