Back to England: Charlestown Harbor, Cornwall

Smuggling and piracy play a large role in the history of Cornwall. The coastline lends itself to piratic activity, certainly. Caves, deep inlets, hidden harbors and coves all provided perfect protection for nefarious goings-on.

Many of England's most famous pirates were born in the west of the UK: from Somerset, Devon, Bristol, and even a lady pirate from Cornwall. This is from the website West Country Pirates:

"The Killigrew family, which lived in Cornwall, had a notorious reputation for seizing ships, appropriating the cargo, and selling both to finance their lifestyle.  Mary Killigrew, who had married Sir John Killigrew, was herself the daughter of a pirate. On the first of January in 1583, the Maria docked at Arwenack Castle where Lady Killigrew entertained them.  For several days the Spanish captain and others visited Penryn.  On their return they discovered the Maria had disappeared.

During their absence and after a storm passed, Lady Killigrew and her servants rowed to the ship, killed those Spaniards still aboard, and absconded with the cargo.  Although many believed her guilty, no proof existed that she had participated in the theft and murders.

Angry at the lack of justice, the Spaniards journeyed to London where they complained to the authorities there.  When it was learned that Lady Killigrew’s son, a judge, had tampered with the investigation, she and two of her gang were arrested and stood trial.  All three were sentenced to death, but Queen Elizabeth I pardoned Lady Killigrew."

Anyone who has watched the BBC series Poldark knows of the smuggling activities in Cornwall, and of the "wreckers", those people who salvaged goods from shipwrecks, and some say lured the ships onto rocks to be wrecked on purpose. According to a BBC article online, "The most notorious Cornish smuggler was John Carter from Prussia Cove. He was nicknamed the King of Prussia. Using small inlets in west Cornwall, Carter ran a successful smuggling ring for several years during the late 1700s. The Prussia Cove smuggler had a reputation for "honest dealing". Once he broke into the Penzance Custom House to recover his seized contraband - the excise men at the time said he only took what he believed to be his property." (I wonder if King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, was named after him? Wikipedia says the town was named after a tavern, which was named for an actual Prussian king, but I wonder...)

Charlestown Harbor is an original 18th century port, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many popular movies and series besides Poldark have used the port for its authentic background, among them Saving Private Ryan, Alice in Wonderland, and Doctor Who. The tall ship Kajsamoor makes its home there and is open to tourists. There is also a shipwreck museum with the largest collection of shipwreck artifacts in the world. 

The harbor was our first destination after arriving in Cornwall the evening before. Located on the opposite side of the Cornwall peninsula, the drive is not a difficult one since Cornwall is only about 25 miles wide. 

We enjoyed a walk around the harbor,

meeting a most gracious pirate,

and a young handsome one too.

 Here, another funny story. You might have read my Stonehenge post about my sister Judy. To understand how funny this was you will need to go back and read that post if you haven't already. So here at Charlestown, I said to this young pirate, "Would you do me a favor? Would you go ask that lady if she's Judy?" He obligingly walked up to her, and said in his very lovely Cornish accent, "Are you Judy?" Her face was so funny! Of course we had to let the pirate in on the joke. What a great sport he was. And so was she. We told her she was famous everywhere in England 😄😄

To the right of this photo is the tall ship Kajsamoor (pronounced Kisermoor):

We enjoyed walking around the pirate ship and the harbor, especially the dock area where exhibits feature some of the craftsmen who would have worked there,

The blacksmith's shop:

This exhibit particularly interested me since some of my ancestors were coopers in Baltimore:

Children enjoyed trying out the stocks. Behind the stocks can be seen the leat, something I had never heard of. To help keep the water in the dock area at an even level (so ships wouldn't get grounded), water would be brought in via canals, aqueducts and ditches from the Luxulyan Valley  some 4 miles away to supplement when the water became low.

The beautiful beaches of Charlestown:

We lunched in a nice restaurant nearby (indoors because it had gotten quite warm, and there were bees all around the restaurant areas), then we were off to our afternoon adventure, the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.