NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM CORNWALL

Exhibited in The National Maritime Museum Cornwall - ‘Pirates’, 2023 - 2024

The county's most famous pirate was Mary, Lady Killigrew (c. 1525-1587) who, among other misdeeds, plundered a Spanish galleon at anchor in Falmouth and narrowly avoided execution as a consequence.

The county was also on the other end of piracy. For a hundred years up to 1680, it suffered from the predations of the Barbary corsairs - pirates from North Africa who led raids on coastal settlements to capture people for the Ottoman slave market.

But little is known of Cornish pirates during the Golden Age. Only Edward Culliford, allegedly from East Looe, stands out. Born around 1664, he served in the merchant and naval service before turning to piracy in the Red Sea. Even though he was eventually arrested, there is no record of him being hanged and his fate is unknown.