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 |
|---|---|---|
| 0587 | Old Curiosity Shop | John Burton established Falmouth’s Old Curiosity Shop in the late 19th century, collecting items from far and wide to sell in England. This newspaper advertisement for the shop advertises the “world famour Allawalla brand” of Indian mild mango chutney – an exotic item for an English kitchen in that era |
| 0588 | Engineers’ and Mechanics’ Pocketbook | Engineers’ and Mechanics’ Pocketbook, Charles H. Haswell (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1868, 23rd edn). Stamped with ‘Thomas Massey, Ship and Boat Builder, Portreath’, written in by succeeding owners W. H. Batton, Richard J. Rowe, Leslie Gillard |
| 0350 | Anderson I | Collection of over 90 yacht and small boat plans produced by Ian Anderson. Includes the Countess, Hurley and Seastream designs. Listed but not yet fully catalogued. |
| 0589 | Valler S R | Collection of papers relating to Samuel’s career as a merchant seaman, and various photographs. Most of the material dates from early 1900s to 1947. Born 1884 in Falmouth awarded certificate of competency 1907 copy 1919 |
| 0590 | Kennedy A | Collection of twenty images c.1900’s, including some of Penzance fishing boats in Penzance Harbour, steam yacht ‘Maretanza’, and some unknown sailing vessels |
| 0591 | Knight R | Six photographs, four from 1936 and two from 1957, of the Knight family on holiday at Bude beach in Cornwall |
| 0592 | Mackay W T | Collection of documents, photographs and slides relating to Wally Mackay and his model boat building hobby, in particular relating to his model oyster dredger Alf Smythers |
| 0593 | Hodge D G | This collection comprises newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, papers, a sketch book and Ship’s Log relating to a group of four men (including Donald Hodge) who purchased the yacht “Content” in 1948 and set sail to go around the world. The ship’s log covers the period May 1948 to 17th May 1949. The plan was hatched in 1947 with the intention of creating a scientific expedition that would undertake commissions to carry out various research activities around the world. The proposed company did not materialise but four of the main participants decided to purchase “Content” and carry out the plan to sail around the world |
| 0594 | Register of steam boat certificates. | A register detailing awarded certificates to passenger steam boats in Falmouth Harbour and Truro River. Early records show permission to trade between Penzance and Start Point |
| 0600 | SigneT ST2 | Plans of the SigneT ST2, a prototype of a home build 12’6″ family dinghy designed by Ian Proctor. Supporting documents |
| 0601 | Fairey folding boat | Peckibus is a folding boat that can be carried on a car, apparently reassembled in 5 mins and can be rowed, paddled and punted, or used with an outboard engine |
| 0603 | PBK 14 canoe | Plans and build instructions for 14ft canvas-covered canoe, PBK 14 Mark 2. Designed by P.W. Blandford, Newbold-on-Stour, Stratford-on-Avon. See also Blandford P W Archive 0360 |
| 0595 | RNLI | |
| 0613 | Recorder Cable Layer | Two photographs of a Cable and Wireless Cable Laying Ship “Recorder” in Australia |
| 0596 | Brown W | Two photographs relating to William Brown of Truro, who served in the Navy from 1909 to 1921 |
| 0597 | Snell A | WW1 diary and service record of Alfred Snell, Cornishman born in St Austell and raised in Foxhole. The diary is a hand written log for the Straits from March 1917 to February 1919 on HMS Tigress. The service record includes the ships he served on and medals he was awarded, the British War and Victory medals |
| 0604 | Tall Ships glass slides | 13 glass mounted black and white slides showing Tall ships including Winterhude, Ponape, Audierne Thonier A.1120, Cap Pilar, and Passat |
| 0606 | Pearse Capt J | Papers relating to Cornishman Captain John Pearse of Cawsand including certificate of competency. Vessels Sheila and Jura |
| 0614 | Cornish Wrecks | A collection of 81 photographs of Cornish wrecks with handwritten details of the vessel and the wrecks. There are several original Gibson photographs in the collection together with reproduction images |
| 0615 | Mackerel Klondyking | 35mm transparencies (x226) taken on behalf of the Joint Trawlers organisation who were an Anglo/Swedish company that acted as a link between the fishermen and the Soviet fishing co-operatives |
| 0607 | Chippendale J | Plans, photographs, letters and other paperwork of boat builder Jack Chippendale not yet catalogued or fully scoped |
| 0608 | St Denys Tug | Set of plans and associated information for “St Denys” steam powered tug, when converted to oil burning . Fully catalogued GH Mar 15 This steam powered tug was built around 1928 originally named “Northgate Scot”, subsequently renamed “St Denys” |
| 0610 | Pengelly E | The memoir of Edwin Pengelly, originally a fisherman from Looe who went on to work in the mercantile marine. He includes the ships he served on, Atlantic crossings, his time supplying the Gallipoli campaign in WW1, being part of the WW2 Atlantic convoys and being torpedoed. The memoir covers the period from 1899 to about 1954 |
| 0611 | Penzance Waterguard | Penzance Waterguard ledger and letters concerning boats escaping Occupied France and arriving in Penzance in WWII. Some names listed |
| 0236 | Robinson A | Pilotage records recorded by Anthony Robinson. Years 1972 to 1988. Also 2 logbooks apparently from his time at sea covering years 1956 to 1961 |
| 0237 | Mirror dinghy brochure | A brochure for the Mirror class dinghy |
| 0238 | Port Pendennis Marina | A set of eight coloured aerial photographs showing the sea walls and impounded marina basin at the Port Pendennis Harbour Village project in Falmouth, constructed during 1988/89, for Peter de Savary’s Falmouth Developments Limited |
| 0239 | Photograph of Lovellia in Falmouth docks | A photograph of the ship Lovellia when in Falmouth docks |
| 0240 | Falmouth area photographs, 1938 | Holiday photographs of Falmouth area from 1938 |
| 0241 | Falmouth’s Old Curiosity Shop | This sketch is part of an advertisement for Burton’s Old Curiosity Shop in Falmouth. On the other side is a list of people who have patronised the establishment, including a few Cornish names such as John Tremayne, M.P. and the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe |
| 0242 | Jack Holt catalogue | A catalogue from 1970 of boat parts for boats designed by Jack Holt. Includes among other things: flying spinnakers, powersails, spars, cam cleats, pulley blocks, sail fittings, boat covers, clothing and dinghy designs for Cadet, Cavalier, Contender, Diamond, Corinthian, Enterprise (wooden and glass fibre), Explorer, Flying Junior, Fireball, 420, GP14, 470, Heron, Hornet, Merlin Rocket, Lazy E, Jacksnipe, Mirror 16, Mirror, Puffin Pacer, Solo, Rambler and Vagabond |
| 0243 | Stuart Marine Engine catalogue | Catalogue of engines and engine parts from Stuart Marine Engines |
| 0244 | Dorman Diesel Engine parts list | Parts list relating to Dorman diesel engines, supplied to Broom and Wade Ltd, Engineers, High Wycombe |
| 0245 | Fidalga II album | Album advertising the sailing motor yacht Fidalga II by Thornycroft, including 15 photographs |
| 0246 | Tall Ships memorabilia | Archive of Tall Ships memorabilia, including souvenir programmes, events guide and scrapbook of Falmouth events. Also a related guide to the Newcastle Maritime Festival of 1986 |
| 0618 | Bluenose Booklet | Booklet entitled ‘The Story of Bluenose’. Anotated in ink ‘ Angus J Walters/ Master/ Bluenose/Aug 23rd 1935’ Copyright Canada 1933 by Lunenburg Exhibitors Ltd, Lunenburg, N.S., Canada |
| 0619 | Optimist Booklet | Booklet entitled ‘The Greatest Little Boat in the World’, ‘The Story of the Optimist in the United Kingdom 1960-1990’ by Michael Ranson |
| 0620 | Falmouth Guides | 4 guide books for Falmouth: 1. Lakes Almanack 1931, 2. Official Guide 1955, 3. Official Guide 1963, 4. Official Guide in colour 1973. |
| 0621 | Walker Wing Sails | Documents issued to shareholders e.g annual reports, newsletters, correspondence, share issue brochure, shareholder reports and an article in Multihull International of Dec 1989 |
| 0247 | Flying Enterprise | Collection of documents concerning the sinking of the ‘Flying Enterprise’ and the rescue of Captain Carlson |
| 0248 | Falmouth Art Gallery Transfer | A collection of photographs, and documents donated to the NMMC by Falmouth Art Gallery from their previous exhibitions. Work on this collection has not yet been completed |
| 0624 | Joan & Ray Hietpas | Photograph and US Nationalisation Certificate |
| 0625 | Oil Tanker Benedick | Single B&W photograph of oil tanker Benedick |
| 0627 | Roy Stribley Collection | Collection of 32 Albums or folders of Shipping mainly in and around Falmouth |
| 0628 | The Moon privateer, 1780 | Hand written document dating from 1780. “Attestation and ship papers” brought to the French prize court regarding the seizure of “The Moon” or “La Lune” by “Trimmer”, private ship of war and brought to Mounts Bay |
| 0629 | St Mawes pilchard ledger, 1781-1833 | Hand written ledger relating to St Mawes detailing trade in pilchards in the 1780s and later reused in the 1820s by a tailor |
| 0630 | Harrison Butler archive | A collection of 46 yacht plans by Thomas Harrison Butler |
| 0633 | Cinefilm of the Fal Estuary and Carrick Roads 1939-1960s by Norman Goodyear | This cinefilm is taken from 18 separate films. They were transferred to VHS tape and then copied onto DVD format. There are 4 chapters, organised into Falmouth in the late 1930s, Falmouth in 1946-1949, Falmouth in the 1950s and Falmouth in the 1960s. The duration of the footage is approximately 30 minutes in total. It is a mixture of colour and black and white and has no sound. Much of the footage has been identified and further research is being carried out to provide exact dates and locations for each of the clips |
| 0302 | Local Craft Study | Collection of old and new lines plans for local craft being built up as part of NMMC research project Local Craft for Local Waters This archive will be cross referenced with the following archives Burt 0010, Tregaskes 0019, Mitchell 0056 Prowse 0101, Dalton 0121, Dorling 0210, Curtis & Pape 0320, Picken 0022 |
| 0641 | Hodge T | 1865 indenture for Thomas Hodge, apprenticed to a Falmouth shipbuilder |