Shiver me timbers!  ‘Ave ‘e ever ‘eard of Mark Mixstow? Reverend William Penfold? Lady Killigrew or the Barbary Corsairs?  No?  Well listen ‘ere me hearties …….. we’ll start with the lady.

Lady Killigrew of Arwenack ~ During the sixteenth century the Killigrew family gained notoriety by seizing ships, taking the cargo, and selling both to finance their lifestyle. 

Although not Cornish by birth, Mary Killigrew, daughter of Philip Wolverston (a “gentleman pirate”) of Wolverston Hall in Suffolk, married Sir John Killigrew.  Sir John used his privileged position, as 2nd Governor of Pendennis Castle, to prey on the cargoes of ships that came within his reach, using Arwenack House to store the stolen merchandise.  Mary and her husband paid large fees to officials, bribing them to allow their illicit activities. Mary played an active role in the piracy, and it is told, enjoyed the adventure more than her husband.

In January of 1583, the Spanish ship Maria of San Sebastian sheltered from a storm at Arwenack. During one of the crew’s trips into the town of Penryn, Lady Killigrew and her servants rowed to the ship, killed those Spaniards still aboard, and absconded with the ship and the cargo.  Although many believed her guilty, no proof existed that she had actually participated in the theft and murders. 

Mary was brought to trial and sentenced to death. Though two of her assistants were executed, she eventually received a pardon from Queen Elizabeth I. Mary’s son secured her release from prison after having paid substantial bribes.

Reverend William Penfound of Poundstock ~ During the 14th century gangs of pirates sailed Widemouth Bay, attacking passing ships, pillaging and kidnapping. One of the pirates was a ‘man of God’, a curate of St. Winwaloe’s Church, named William Penfound.

Penfound fell out with the other members of his pirate gang, and in December 1357 the gang tracked him down to the church and burst in while he was holding a service for the Feast of St John the Evangelist, brutally hacking him to death in front of the altar. Ever since, it is claimed that Penfound’s ghost haunts the church.

The Michaelstow or Mixstow Family of Mixstow Creek, Fowey ~ The Michaelstow or Mixstow family is first noted in Fowey in 1357 when Richard de Michelstow hired his vessel to the Black Prince earning £20. He later held official positions in the ports of Lostwithiel and Fowey. The main occupation for which the family is known, however, is for piracy. At this time, ships were at times lawfully armed as privateers, their owners holding Letters of Marque from the Crown to prey on enemy shipping. In the often confused world of medieval wars and shifting allegiances, these shipowners were also accused of piracy, acting without authority in attacking shipping.

Fowey was particularly notorious. Payment was obtained from legally seized ships but attacks on shipping didn’t stop during truce periods, nor were the pirates too concerned about the country of origin. Rewards were shared widely amongst the several owners and the wider community.

The Michaelstows or Mixstows, probably used the creek of Mixtow for careening their ships. Mark Mixstow was the most notorious and his son John carried on the family career with his ship the Edward of Polruan. Both men and their many partners were frequently named in Chancery Proceedings, as merchants attempted to get redress. In 1433 John Mixstow’s ship was described as carrying 200 men ‘armed and arrayed for war’ when he captured a vessel travelling from Seville to Kent with a cargo destined for an English merchant.

John Mixstow’s daughter and heiress, Amicia, married into the Treffry family. 

Credit: Research Virginia Pollard http://foweyharbourheritage.org.uk

The Barbary Corsairs ~ are a part of Cornwall’s more grisly seafaring history.  We all love the endearing, swashbuckling, pirate, who sports a patch over an eye, a peg-leg and in his hand holds aloft a bottle of rum.   And let’s not forget the parrot sitting on his shoulder. Widely romanticised movies of pirates and their ‘yo-ho-ho’ attitudes have turned them into our heroes.

          But between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, pirates from the Barbary Coast raided the Cornish coastal areas, capturing and enslaving thousands of men, woman and children who were shipped back to North Africa.

The Barbary pirates operated primarily from Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and Rabat and occasionally sailed as far as Iceland to capture slaves, which they then traded in North African slave markets.

In August 1625 corsairs raided Mount’s Bay, Cornwall, capturing 60 men, women and children and taking them into slavery. In 1626, St Keverne was repeatedly attacked, and boats out of Looe, Penzance, Mousehole and other Cornish ports were boarded, their crews taken captive and the empty ships left to drift. It was feared that there were around 60 Barbary men-of-war prowling the Devon and Cornish coasts where attacks were occurring almost daily.

In 1645, another raid by Barbary pirates on the Cornish coast saw 240 men, women and children kidnapped. The following year Parliament sent Edmund Cason to Algiers to negotiate the ransom and release of English captives. He paid on average £30 per man (women were more expensive to ransom) and managed to free some 250 people before he ran out of money. Cason spent the last 8 years of his life trying to arrange the release of a further 400.

From the records of donations in the Falmouth Parish Register from the same period, it is known that an alarming amount of people from Cornwall alone, were captured and taken to far-flung destinations, such as Salle, Algiers and Morocco; and that the Church made attempts to collect the sums of their ransoms. However, many Cornish captives would have remained in these countries, either as slaves or as converts to Islam.

Samuel Pepys, in his Diary of 8 February, 1661

“…to the Fleece tavern to drink and there we spent till 4 a-clock telling stories of Algier and the manner of the life of Slaves there… those who have been slaves did make me full acquainted with their condition there. As, how they eat nothing but bread and water…. How they are beat upon the soles of the feet and bellies…” 

Barbary piracy was gradually stamped out, although it persisted well into the 19th century.  

Don’t have nightmares!