Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This is a history of the shipping and of the men who built and manned the ships on the north coast of Cornwall, centred on Padstow, from Viking times up to the present day. Until the railways arrived, the area was so isolated that almost everything arrived and left by sea. In the 16th century, tiny ships were trading to the Mediterranean and Norway. Over 200 ships of that era have been identified and listed. Smugglers and revenue cutters were active throughout the 18th century. Then in the 19th century came a golden age of sail with busy shipyards and emigrant ships departing from the New World. The hardships, the tragic shipwrecks are included in this work, with the individual histories of over 900 sailing ships, which are given complete with ownership and family connections. Shipping activity faded rapidly round the beginning of the 20th century. Between two World Wars, Padstow was a quiet place, visited mainly by steam coasters. Information is also featured about the lifeboats, the six-oared gigs, the barges on the River Camel, the yachts, the naval auxiliaries and air-sea rescue launches of World War II, and the sand dredgers and fishing vessels of present times.
|
