The National Maritime Museum Cornwall holds an archive of boat plans, documents and photographs relating to the maritime history of Cornwall and the development and use of boats. Some of the archives are small – barely a single photograph – others are very large. Below is a small sample of the main archives at fonds level with a brief description. You can view the archives by making an appointment with our curator via email to: enquiries@nmmc.co.uk.
Copies of documents or photographs for personal research can be supplied, subject to a small fee and normal copyright law.
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| Fonds ID | Fonds | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 0203 | Sarbaugh J | Photocopy of sections from log book for United States LST 325 entries 01/12/1943 – 25/04/1945. Commanding Officer C Mosier, Navigator G D Jackson. |
| 0204 | Farington J | Two pictures of Falmouth believed to be topographical drawings by Joseph Farington RA (1747-1821). Etched by Letitia Byrne. Published March 1 1813 by T Cadell & W Davies, Strand. London |
| 0205 | Gillis R | A typed draft of a graphic account of the Loss of the Thomas W Lawson 14/12/1907 by Richard Gillis 1957 |
| 0206 | Falmouth Seagoing Training Ship for Boys | This collection consists of a book published in 1971 about the first 25 years and a leaflet. The organisation was founded in 1946 by the late Mr Jackson Feather. Sole aim to provide training to boys to build their character with the experience of going to sea |
| 0207 | Thorpe Bay Yacht Club | 2 Official Souvenir Programmes from Thorpe Bay Yacht Club, Essex for the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy Series; 1967 Great Britain v Australia, price 1/-; 1968 Great Britian v USA, price 1/6. |
| 0208 | Grahame Farr archive | |
| 0209 | Mirror dinghy | Mirror Class Association Magazines Reflections 1975 – 1994 x 37 |
| 0210 | Dorling T J | Plans and correspondence for National Scorpion designed by Taprell J Dorling, first launched 1960, Porthpean Beach. The archive includes plans, leaflets, correspondence to do with the design, patent and championships. |
| 0211 | Hough S | Stafford Hough’s shipping interests |
| 0212 | Williams F & Co | Williams F & Co Sail Makers Falmouth & Devoran account |
| 0214 | Neal T | Navy Five per cent Annuities certificate 20/10/1813 Thomas Neal Printed & handwritten original |
| 0226 | Hart T G | The Royal Equatorial Court of His Aquatic Majesty King Neptune – RMS ‘Arawa’ Certificate 04/08/1909. Handwritten with seal Cox & Co indenture 1896 |
| 0227 | Atalanta | Designed by Uffa Fox developed by Fairey Marine – Booklet and other documents related to Atalanta 26 Aquilo |
| 0228 | Davies C Lt Cdr RNR DSC | A loosely constructed diary of WWII minesweeping activities, made up of typed sheets of “random jottings”, photographs and official documents, ordered chronologicaly relating to the experiences of Charles Davies |
| 0229 | Falmouth Shark Fishing Club | An archive of local shark fishing, including both the Shark Angling Club of Falmouth and Falmouth Shark and Deep Sea Angling Club, contains a collection of documents, leaflets, minutes and images. The Shark Angling Club of Falmouth was active until 1982. In 1988 reformed as Falmouth Shark & Deep Sea Angling Club until 15 May 1990. |
| 0230 | Andrews Dr R A | Collection of papers written by Dr Ronald Andrews who owned the Bermudian Cutter, Merlin (b1934). The archive holds details of two sailing trips made to Northern Spain by Dr R A Andrews in 1972. It includes 6 hand drawn pictures of the locations, people and sights of the cruises |
| 0231 | Coast Lines Ltd | Correspondence 1940-1944 between the Admiralty and Coast Lines Ltd, Falmouth and other offices, the RAF and official bodies about the use of Falmouth wharves for berthing facilities for Motor Torpedo Boats and other small craft and a shed for naval stores. 2 layout plans drawn up 26 November 1941 for Falmouth M. L. base by the Civil Engineer in Chief’s Dept, Devonport |
| 0233 | Penryn River | Two copies of a typed proposal for a Greenbank to Flushing sea wall. The wall would be a dam for the Penryn river and would provide quick transport from Falmouth to Flushing with a swing bridge. Correspondence from the town clerk dealing with the plans |
| 0234 | Dredging | Correspondence for proposed dredging of the Penryn river. Opposition include oyster farmers who claimed contaminated stocks and loss of income |
| 0235 | Coast Lines | Voyage records from Coastline company |
| 0320 | Curtis & Pape | An extensive collection of over 220 plans and supporting material from the firm and their principal designer Alan Pape. Collected from MBM Basildon and Nina Pape. |
| 0300 | Holt J | Jack Holt archive of drawings/plans and workbooks covering a large number of the Holt designs, donated to the museum by his estate. Covers sets of plans for 42 of his dinghy designs. Only a few of these designs have been catalogued in detail. Some have been photographed |
| 0501 | Bartlett Library photographs | This is a large collection of photographs and postcards which formerly belonged to the Bartlett Library. It is very varied with images of different types of ships in Falmouth Harbour and elsewhere along the coast, local Cornish scenes (Falmouth, Devoran, Newlyn and more) and models in the collection |
| 0502 | Oram. A T | Arthur T Oram – born 27.6.1916 Devizes, Wiltshire- died 3.5.2005 or 2007.Most of the 77 photographs taken when he was a teenager. Arthur also lived in Bristol. During the 1930s the family often drove their car to Cornwall for their summer holidays |
| 0503 | Prior’s Sail Loft | Prior’s Sailmakers Loft was at the bottom of Upton Slip in Falmouth. The family business had long been sailmaking. This photograph was taken prior to 1924 when the loft was burnt down. The museum has the name plate from this loft in the collections |
| 0504 | Mirror dinghy 2 | This booklet contains all the printed instructions, diagrams and Photographs on how to build a Mirror class dinghy. These boats were amongst the first DIY or ‘table top’ boats, which could be built at home or on a kitchen table. This is one of several Fonds containing Mirror dinghy information from different sources. See also 0085, 0209, 0227, 0242, 0632 |
| 0505 | Bellis J | Set of seven post cards depicting various vessels in Falmouth area, view of Church Cove, Lizard, view of Perranporth beach and view of Kynance Beach |
| 0506 | Rimmer | |
| 0507 | Carlsen | Item 1: Booklet “Carlsen of the Flying Enterprise” teling story of how Capt Carlsen stayed with his damaged ship for 14 days until it sank on Jan 5, 1952. Item 2: Newspaper cutting Obituary from Daily Telegraph Wed Oct 11, 1989. See also 0005, 0247 |
| 0508 | HMS Collingwood | This is a small collection of postcards showing the crew of HMS Collingwood and the ship itself during World War 1. There are a variety of images, showing the ship from the port side, starboard side and looking back to the fleet, plus the handling of a torpedo or buoy over the side of the ship. There is also a photograph of a K Class submarine, also known as the Kalamity class as they were involved in so many accidents |
| 0509 | “Falmouth Docks”, Falmouth Packet supplement, Friday September 23, 1960 | This 8 page supplement celebrates the centenary of the Falmouth Docks Centenary 1860-1960 |
| 0510 | Fireball Dinghy | Set of 8 building plans for Fireball Dinghy, circa 1962 |
| 0511 | Sherris | Original Vellum Document, unframed, “Preservation of Site from Shipwreck”, signed by the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI).Dated 4 Nov 1880. Presented to Captain Richard Sherris, Famouth Harbourmaster |
| 0512 | Jack Holt | Jack Holt 35mm Slide collection + misc photographs and documents |
| 0513 | The Official Guide to Falmouth, 1957 | This Official Guide to Falmouth, 1957, is filled with text for visitors coming to the area complete with a number of photographs. |
| 0514 | Yachting World car-top dinghy plans | |
| 0515 | Compton Castle | Plans of Compton Castle, Paddle Steamer and computer disc (CD) of the engine (with 53 photographs) |
| 0516 | Cornwall Album | Commercially produced small format album with 30 photographs of views of Cornwall, including St Ives, Lands End,Carbis Bay, St Michael’s Mount, Gurnard’s Head, Pendennis, the River Fal, Gyllyngvase beach, Falmouth Harbour and other Falmouth views |
| 0517 | Manry R | Robert Manry left Falmouth, Massachusetts on 1st June 1965 in his 13 1/2 ft sailboat, Tinkerbelle, arriving in Falmouth, Cornwall on 17th August 1965. This small archive contains a single photograph of Manry’s arrival in Falmouth and was taken by a local resident |
| 0519 | Lewis T | This Bible was issued to Thomas N Lewis a boy training on HMS Ganges for his Holy Communion. In 1866 HMS Ganges became the boys’ training ship in seamanship anchored in Falmouth harbour from 1866 until August 1899. There is also a photograph of young Tom in his uniform |
| 0520 | Glass Negatives | Two half plate glass negatives – Schooner etc at anchor.in Falmouth C 1900 |
| 0521 | Little America Cup | ‘Little’ America Cup Programmes x 6 |
| 0522 | Torbay and Dartmouth | Regatta Programmes x 2 for 1937 & 1938 |
| 0523 | Burgess P | 12 small format photographs show scenes around Falmouth including: Gyllyngvase Beach, the Harbour, the Cutty Sark, Marine Drive, St Mawes, Fish Strand Hill, Queen Mary Gardens and Pendennis Point. One photograph shows Kynance Cove on the Lizard Penisula |
| 0524 | Falmouth Dockmaster’s Daily Return 1915 | Falmouth Docks, Dockmaster’s daily return Fri 1 Jan 1915 to Wed Jun 30 1915. Each page has Sections for Eastern wharf, Tidal Harbour (front), Western wharf, Graving dock No. 1 and Graving dock No. 2 (reverse) |
| 0526 | Bluebottle | Items relating to a reception and dinner held at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club to celebrate Bluebottle and the Duke of Edinburgh’s 90th birthday |
| 0527 | Angove V | A collection of tranparencies and scanned photographs of boats built and repaired by Vic Angove, traditional boatbuilder of Falmouth (12.04.1927 to 06.11.2001). Donated to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall by Colin Angove and Lynne Vosper, Vic’s son and daughter in November 2012.
The Collection includes 100 transparencies and 80 photographs of ‘Lyonesse’, a 28-ft Falmouth Working Boat designed by Percy Dalton, and 28 photographs of the restoration of ‘Otter’, a 33-ft gaff cutter that was built in 1912 by James Angear of Looe. Vic was Chairman of Penryn Rowing Club for over 25 years and built four 18-ft Flashboats for the Club and the collection includes the launch of the ‘An Gof’ and the ‘Carly Louise’. |
| 0528 | Lloyd E M | Album of Tall Ship photographs and cuttings. Label on front cover lists some of the content. A note inside front cover reads “Most of the photographs at the beginning of this book were taken by me at Falmouth in the 1930s” |
| 0529 | Clare E C | Image of one of the German submarines used for trials at the end of WW1 subsequently wrecked at Falmouth |
| 0530 | Griffin J | Postcards of Falmouth, Mylor, St Just, some 1910C |