INDUSTRIES 



Davey belongs the larger share of the credit for 

 the original mechanical appliances, and to other 

 members of the Davey family, still identified 

 with the industry, the credit for bringing chemi- 

 cal science to bear upon the processes. At the 

 Tuckingmill factory, where between 200 and 

 300 persons are employed, there has also been a 

 remarkable hereditary succession of the original 

 employes (chiefly feminine), which to-day includes 

 grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those 

 who made the first safety fuse under the guidance 

 of Mr. William Bickford. 



It might have been supposed that ship-building 

 and boat-building would have been assigned a 

 prominent position in the annals of Cornwall. 

 Such is not the case. The industry is hardly 

 once referred to in the histories of the county. 1 

 Neither has it been possible to supply the defect 

 from other sources. The large number of ships 

 which sailed from Cornish ports in the fourteenth 

 century to take part in the French wars, the 

 close association of Falmouth with the Mail 

 Packet service for more than 160 years, and 

 above all the Cornish fisheries, would lead us to 

 conclude that boat building and repairing have 

 been established for centuries in the leading 

 ports. All that we certainly know, however, is 

 that it was to Little Falmouth that the packets 

 went for repairs and refit ; that at Mevagissey 

 ship-building existed 150 years ago; that at 

 St. Ives boat-building has been carried on by 

 members of the same family for a century ; that 

 it was introduced into Scilly in 1820. The 

 history of the industry at the latter place is prob- 

 ably typical. It was at its zenith from 1 840 to 

 1860, and during that period wooden ships up 

 to 600 tons register were built. It became ex- 

 tinct about 1885. At Falmouth twenty years 

 ago there were upwards of a dozen yards, now 

 there are only three or four. At Par, between 

 the years 1867 and 1879, ten ships were turned 

 out whose tonnage ranged from 160 to 450 

 tons ; now repairing only is done. At Penzance 

 ocean-going vessels were built forty years ago, 

 and schooners at Newlyn ; now ship-building is 

 abandoned, and only small boats are constructed. 

 The same holds good of Looe and of Cornish 

 ports generally. The cause of the decline has 

 been the substitution everywhere of steam for 



sails, iron or steel for wood, and also the unre- 

 stricted port to port trade which is permitted to 

 foreign vessels. Within the last twenty-five 

 years, however, a few sea-going schooners have 

 been built at Falmouth, Truro, Penryn, and 

 Fowey, while yachts up to 2O tons, and boats 

 known locally as quay-punts are still built at 

 Falmouth ; fishing boats, pleasure boats, and 

 boats for the customs and coastguard at St. Ives ; 

 lifeboats at Mevagissey ; and boats suitable for 

 local needs in some other places. More impor- 

 tant still, there are between seventy and eighty 

 vessels registered at Lloyd's of Cornish construc- 

 tion. Of these, twenty-six are built of wood, 

 and the rest of iron and steel. The former 

 were built at Newquay, Polruan, Padstow, Fal- 

 mouth, and Calstock; the latter at Falmouth 

 and Hayle. Three are steel steamers ranging 

 from 1,978 to 3,860 tons, and were constructed 

 by Messrs. Harvey and Company, a firm which 

 no longer builds vessels. Steamers, steam tugs, 

 the latter well known for their efficiency, and 

 composite vessels of different sorts, continue to 

 be built at the Falmouth Docks Ironworks, 

 which in its various departments employs between 

 500 and 600 men. 



Of other Cornish industries, besides those 

 dealt with in separate articles, the most note- 

 worthy is the flour mill at Loigans, with its 

 biscuit factory at Hayle, affording employment 

 for 184 men and 32 women. There are 

 breweries at Falmouth, St. Austell, Redruth, 

 and Hayle ; flour mills throughout the county ; 

 biscuit and jam factories at Truro ; boot and 

 bacon factories at Redruth ; rope-walks at Pen- 

 ryn, Penzance, and elsewhere ; all of which, 

 together with some minor industries, have been 

 created by and administer to local needs. 



In the preparation of the foregoing sketch the 

 writer has received valuable assistance from Sir 

 George J. Smith of Treliske, Mr. D. H. Shilson 

 of St. Austell, Mr. J. W. Wilkinson of Hayle, 

 Mr. J. Turner of Perranporth, Mr. G. D. 

 McGrigorof Penzance, Mr. A. Scott of Lloyd's, 

 Messrs. Cox & Lean of Falmouth, and Mr. 

 Paynter of St. Ives. To these and to many 

 others who have answered questions respecting 

 the several industries referred to, he desires to 

 tender his grateful acknowledgements. 



GRANITE QUARRYING 



The enormous increase in the commercial 

 enterprise and trade of the country in the first 

 half of the last century made the construction 

 of extensive dock and harbour works necessary 



1 Carew's statement is rather ambiguous. ' Corn- 

 wall,' he writes, ' is stored with many sorts of shipping 

 (for that term is the genus to them all), namely, they 

 have cock-boats for passengers, sein boats for taking of 

 pilchard . . . barks and ships for traffic.' Survey, 

 p. 91, ed. 181 1. 



in order to accommodate our rapidly increasing 

 naval and mercantile marine. A comparatively 

 strong, durable, and cheap material for those 

 portions of such engineering works as had to 

 resist heavy pressure or wear was found in the 

 granite of Cornwall, and especially in that which 

 lies in the Penryn district. 



Cornish granite, generally speaking, is much 

 coarser in texture than that found in other parts 

 of the British Isles, and granite having this 



517 



