Wreckers. Cornish wreckers. It seems that the two terms have to go together; one cannot exist without the other. And yet, that really isn't true. There are Cornish people who are not wreckers, and wreckers who are not Cornish. Nevertheless, the popular notion of wrecking most surely connects the two. But who are they? Are they the despicable characters of popular belief, who lure ships ashore on the rocks using false lights? Or are they people altogether different who were somehow caught up with stories of evil-doing?

I first encountered stories of Cornish wreckers on my first trip to Cornwall. I had just finished two years of university and treated myself to a British holiday with a high school friend. Cornwall captured our imagination, with its fascinating geography and geology, its stone circles and Celtic crosses, and its relationship to the sea. We investigated every little tract we could find, hooked by the constant surprises. Like many visitors, we fell in love with the little seaside villages: Mousehole, Polperro, St Ives, Mullion Cove, and the Lizard. It was at the Lizard that I picked up a little booklet by John Vivian entitled Tales of Cornish Wreckers. I tucked it away in my growing collection of British history books, little realising that I would someday devote years of my life to the study of Cornish wreckers, and that questions arising from my reading of that modest collection of wrecking tales twenty years later would lead me to investigate this important aspect of Cornish and maritime history. This book is the result of that search, a journey which took me from my childhood home in Alaska, to my new student abode and maritime ‘family’ in Greenwich. From there I had many wonderful expeditions to Cornwall for my fieldwork. My research eventually led me to my husband and new home in England, and to this book. It is not an understatement to say that Cornish wrecking has changed my life immeasurably!

My involvement in this voyage has given me opportunities I could not have imagined, and I have met many people for whom I feel immense affection. Because of them, I have been able to ‘sail in smooth waters’.