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
