Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing in Polperro, Cornwall, United Kingdom | Museum

Located in The Warren overlooking the harbour, thePolperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing houses a remarkable collection of exhibits and 19th century photographs as well as many items of memorabilia dating from the 18th century when both smuggling and fishing thrived in in Polperro, England, United Kingdom. It vividly brings to life the story of this Cornish fishing village's extraordinary history and many of the people who featured in it.
Polperro, England, has depended on fishing for generations. In the 19th century, when pilchards were landed in large quantities, the fish were processed and packed in three factories near the harbour. Polperro Heritage Museum of Smuggling and Fishing now occupies one formerly owned by the Teglio family from Italy.
The fishing industry employed many men at sea and many more, with women and children, ashore in salting, pressing, cleaning and washing the fish. The pilchards were salted and cured before the oil was pressed from them using large screw presses and they were packed in barrels.
Large gaff-rigged boats known as Polperro gaffers were used for fishing. A model of the Lady Beatrice, one of the fastest gaffers owned by James Curtis can be seen in the Museum. Seine or drift nets were used to catch the pilchards. At one time there were some 40 drifters working out of the harbour at Polperro, England.
Contraband goods were smuggled across from Guernsey on a huge scale during the latter half of the 18th century, the Polperro boats often risking seizure by Revenue vessels patyrolling the Channel.
Of the many Polperro vessels involved in smuggling at the end of the 18th century, the Lottery was the most infamous. The story of the Lottery's involvement in the murder of a Customs officer in 1798 which led to the trial and execution of one of her crew in 1801 is graphically explained at Polperro Heritage Museum of Fishing and Smuggling in Polperro, England.
Another Lottery crewman, Robert Mark, was later killed at sea by a shot from a Revenue vessel. His inscription can be seen in nearby Talland church where he lies buried, and his cutlass (inscribed and dated 1789) is also on display in Polperro Heritage Museum of Fishing and Smuggling.