Bartlett Blog

In this Bartlett Blog we explore how the magic of Falmouth influenced the children’s author Beatrix Potter.

In a recent exhibition at National Maritime Museum Cornwall, entitled Memories of Falmouth 1934 – 1969, several images were featured of the schooner Mary Barrow. The three masted topsail schooner was one of the last sailing ships plying the coastal trade around Britain in the 1930s.

This month’s Bartlett Blog tells the story of the Hanover wreck, the attempted salvage of the ‘treasure’, the legal case which followed and a story commemorated by the renaming of the cove where the ship foundered as Hanover Cove.

On 23 September 1961 the BP Tanker British Aviator was in a collision in the English Channel with Crystal Jewel a British Bulker owned by the Athel Line. Both ships were badly damaged in what was the first, and is now said to be a classic example of a ‘radar assisted’ collision at sea.

In Cornwall, a county with close maritime connections, there had always been an interest in aspects of weather, the collection of weather information and the subsequent burgeoning of meteorological science. Here we take a look at how Falmouth was at the forefront of developments, building two observatories during the nineteenth century and doing much to encourage the science and services of meteorology.

The Barlett Maritime Research Centre & Library is home to over 20,000 volumes – a unique resource accessible by our volunteers, staff and members of the public. As the collection grew so did the need to make it accessible and in the latest Bartlett Blog we look at how this was achieved.

It’s 9.57am on the 15 June 1972 and the Robertson family’s yacht has just been hit by three male killer whales and is sinking fast. They’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with just a handful of rations, a life raft and their dinghy Ednamair. Their fight for survival has begun.

Contained within 25 heavy leather-bound volumes are the records of the Falmouth Harbour Committee’s weekly meetings. Much of what they reveal is everyday stuff – port arrivals, problems with the steamer and reports of stolen goods but occasionally some exceptional event will stand out. In this Bartlett Blog we highlight one such sad tale.

In December 2020 HMS Tamar was commissioned as a new patrol vessel for the Royal Navy. In April 2021 the ship came to Falmouth for maintenance and whilst here became the first ship the Royal Navy had painted in ‘dazzle’ livery since 1945.