The Port of Falmouth

The Port of Falmouth. . , Early in the 17th century, according to local legend, Sir Walter Raleigh pointed out to Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack that Falmouth was the ideal site for a port to handle sailing ships. In 1611 John Speed wrote “Falmouth is so copious, that an hundred ships may therein ride at ancour apart by themselves, so that from the tops of their highest masts they shall not see each other and lie most safely under the windes". Two years later Sir John Kiligrew was granted permission to build "4 victualling houses for the relief of seafaring men". Under the patronage of successive Kiligrews the mile of foreshore north-west from Arwenack and the fishing village of Smithick were developed into the town of Falmouth. The Inner Basin, comprising North Quay (to your left) and Custom House Quay (on which you now stand), was built by Sir Peter, the last of the Killigrews. It is first depicted (as “Arwenack Peere') on Captain Greenvile Collins’ chart of 1693. , , In 1688 the Post Office chose Falmouth as its chief port for handling overseas mail. For the next 162 years the Falmouth Packets, fast and lightly armed against attack, sailed on regular schedules from here carrying mail, passengers and important cargo. Local merchants prospered. Boatbuilders flourished on the Penryn River (to your let) and on the Old Harbour Bar (to your right). Many of the warehouses lining the waterfront date from this era. Packets, coastal traders and fishing boats thronged the harbour. Ocean-going merchantmen routinely called at Falmouth to enable their skippers to receive the owner’s latest instructions, hence the expression ‘Falmouth for Orders’. The port's success, based on its unique suitability for sail declined with the advent of reliable steam ships and the short, fast, London-to-Southampton rail link. The Post Office abandoned Falmouth and the last Packet sailed out of the harbour in 1850. , , In an attempt to revive flagging fortunes, a group of citizens under the leadership of Lord Wodehouse, inheritor of the Killigrew estates, founded the present dockyard in 1859. Falmouth failed to become a major trading port, but owing to its position at the entrance to the English Channel, the Dockyard succeeded as a centre for ship repair. , , Today merchant vessels and warships of all types and nationalities may be seen in the Docks. Most of the craft elsewhere in the harbour are fishing boats, pleasure boats of some description, or privately owned yachts. Occasionally, however, ‘Tall Ships’ call, potent reminders of Falmouth in the heyday of British Sail. , Interpretation Grant from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust and erected in 1964 with the permission the Rt. Hon. Earl of Kimberley and the Falmouth Harbour Commissioners.