Author: Eddie Newcomb From small beginnings as a trading centre in pre-Christian times, Poole survived the fluctuations of history as a somewhat poor fishing and trading port, exporting produce such […]
Category: People and Characters
Governor Woodes Rogers Woodes Rogers was a boy in Poole until his teens, when his family moved to Bristol with their shipping and trading business. He went to Newfoundland as […]
Author: Don Nutt Elizabethan Days At the start of the period Piracy was rife in the Poole area and Lloyd saw it as one of Dorset’s important industries[1], “having […]
Authors: Cynthia Wall & Susan Jabbari Introduction Roger Guttridge’s book, ‘Dorset Smugglers’ has been used extensively in assembling this summary note. According to him the word “smuggle” probably dates […]
. Fishermen and traders alike cared very much about their safe passage free from risks from pirates and privateers. Life was hard enough without having to deal with the loss […]
Copy of an original letter written by a smuggler to a Captain Bursack of the Revenue Cutter Speedwell and was found in Poole Custom House during renovations. The gentleman in […]
Pirates are considered to be a brutal, lawless lot. But on board ship, they live under a set of rules called ‘The Pirates Code’ or ‘Articles of Agreement’. Each Captain […]
Admiral Sir Thomas Button (1565-1634) Button was for much of his career Admiral of the Narrow Seas – that water defined by the Bristol Channel and across the whole of […]
Captain John Bennett RN (1670-1717) Bennett was a Royal Navy captain for parts of his career but also had other interests; sufficient that he left a will worth several millions […]
Early in August 1625, three sailors, Nicholas Nurrey, Robert Rapson and Thomas Marryner arrived in Poole with an ominous tale to tell. A meeting was hastily arranged with the Mayor […]