Cornish Maritime Collection

“Pilchards! Whose bodies yield the fragrant oil and make the London lamps at midnight smile!” Peter Pindar 1783 (Pen name of John Wolcot, 1738-1819, who achieved fame in the 1780s for his comic and satirical verse). Cornwall once relied upon the sea for nearly everything: food, transport, trade, defence and contact with the outside world.…

William Rogers, one of the men shown in this photograph, was born in St Keverne in Cornwall in 1865 to Thomas and Alice Rogers. He was one of 7 children, with sisters Ann, Mary and Elizabeth and brothers Richard, John and James. William began his naval career at 15 years old – the 1881 census…