Kirjahaku

The history of smuggling in Polperro is told through extracts from the letter-books of Zephaniah Job, who played a major role in the contraband trade carried on there at the end of the 18th century. It features the exploits of the local families involved, and the voyages of the "Swallow".

This text reveals the true story of Zephaniah Job, the Cornishman who masterminded the flourishing contraband trade in Polperro during the Napoleonic wars, as well as the privateers whose adventures led to the capture of handsome prizes.

Jonathan Couch (1789-1870), surgeon apothecary of Polperro, was one of the pioneering natural historians of his day, paving the way for others such as Darwin and Huxley to follow. This account of his life and work tells the story of a man who, born in humble circumstances, rose to become one of the leading natural scientists of the 19th century.

Jeanne's War is a first hand account of the events that unfolded, based on entries recorded in graphic detail in the intensely private notebooks and 1940 diary of Jeanne Dayus who took in the two RAF pilots as lodgers while her husband was away.

Smuggling in Cornwall: An Illustrated History tells the story of the smuggling trade that flourished in Cornwall during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Drawing on extant source material, it examines how the trade was organised and financed with particular reference to the fishing village of Polperro on the south coast of Cornwall, where it was masterminded by Zephaniah Job, known as the ‘Smugglers’ Banker’. Cornwall’s extensive coastline and isolated location made it possible for large quantities of rum, brandy, gin, tea and tobacco to be shipped across from Guernsey and brought ashore in secluded coves. Repeated attempts by Revenue officers to seize contraband goods were invariably thwarted; even when a smuggler was caught red-handed, it was rare for a Cornish jury to convict him. But in 1798, the murder of a Customs officer by one of the crew of a smuggling vessel named the Lottery led to the establishment of the coastguard service and the eventual decline of the smuggling trade. Here, in this illustrated and well-researched book, Jeremy Rowett Johns explores this fascinating area of Cornish maritime history.