Here is the second in a series of blogs written by our Photo Archive intern Sam Hill. Read on to discover more about the relationship between humans and marine creatures, told through our photographic collections.
Warning: This blog features images of marine animals in distress.
The maritime communities of Cornwall are no strangers to creatures of the deep. For centuries, brave fishermen have spun yarns and stories of mermaids, sea serpents, and spectral ships, but what happens when these creatures are captured on film and preserved in the archive?
Okay, I would be lying to you if I said that mermaids and sea monsters had been captured on camera. But Cornish men and women have faced REAL monsters of the deep. This blog will use photographic evidence to explore the various ways maritime communities interacted with “creatures of the deep” and what this can reveal about their relationship with marine wildlife.
One of the major means of interaction is through fishing. The fishing industry was primarily concerned with pilchards, mackerel and herring, but in many cases, larger animals were also caught. This is apparent in image 1, as the photo encapsulates how a hardy Cornish fisherman has reacted to capturing such a huge lobster- by stoically scowling and smoking a cigarette (presumably to calm his nerves!).
Image 1: Fisherman Holding a Large Lobster, 1911-30. https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/11276
In some cases, fishermen revelled in the opportunity to pose with creatures captured at sea. Image 2 displays the sheer pride of the men capturing a Blue Shark along the coast. The capture of these creatures of the deep caused additional logistical problems for fishermen trying to get their catch to market, with Image 3 demonstrating how a large sturgeon caused a hand-drawn cart to be hauled by three able workmen!
Image 2: Captured Blue Shark held by Crewmen, 1934. https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/11287
Image 3: Men with Sturgeon, 1936 https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/11297
A second, yet unfortunate way these interactions occurred was through animals becoming stranded on Cornwall’s beaches. The use of photography to capture these events reveals the morbid curiosity of people to examine the appearance, size, and number of creatures that washed up on nearby shores.
Image 4: Group Looking at Basking Shark, Lighthouse Pier, Newlyn https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/11280
Image 5: Crowd, beached whales Eastern Green Beach https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/11266
This curiosity is vividly captured in Images 4 and 5. In both photographs, well-dressed crowds gather to observe the fate of a pod of whales and a basking shark. This fascination a nd the event itself led to the stranded whales being depicted in the postcards shown in Images 6 and 7.
Image 6: Postcard, Whales Stranded in Mounts Bay https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/16793
Image 7: Postcard Whales Stranded in Mount’s Bay https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/16792
A further way in which communities interacted with such animals was through the imagination of local people. This links back to the yarn-spinning of yesteryear, but the technology of the 20th century encapsulated how people created and showed off these so-called “creatures of the deep.”
A so-called “shark” was presented to a puzzled yet intrigued crowd on a beach in Image 8. The image shows how a group of fishermen or sailors clearly saw a humorous opportunity to carve a piece of driftwood to appear as a captured basking shark. This type of hoax was repeated years later, as Image 9 shows a proud group of men holding a very strange animal “captured” from the deep.
Image 8: Group of People Looking at a Wooden Shark https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/18606
Image 9: Men Holding Wooden Shark https://photoarchive.morrablibrary.org.uk/items/show/20140
The use of the Morrab’s Photo Archive reveals the various interactions that maritime communities had to the maritime wildlife of the area. The photographs’ ability to capture the visual reactions, the fascination, and the imagination of people of these intriguing occurrences are very important for understanding how our own reactions to such animals have been shaped.
If you are interested in marine wildlife, maritime communities, or photographs more generally, I would implore you to take time to look through the Photo Archive held by the Morrab Library, all available to search for free via their website: https://morrablibrary.org.uk/photo-archive/
Sam Hill
Hello readers!
My name is Samuel Hill, and I’m a History PhD student from the University of Exeter. As a requirement of my PhD being funded by the ESRC SWDTP (Economic and Social Research Centre Southwest Doctoral Training Program), I have the requirement of undertaking a three months’ work placement within any institution of my choice – with my choice being Morrab Library!
My main historical interests are the social history of the southwest, with my thesis exploring the lives of maritime communities in Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly between 1750 and 1899. My thesis is exploring the various acts of resistance like smuggling, wrecking, and food rioting during times of social and economic hardship.
The reason I chose the Morrab Library for my work placement was simple. Throughout my studies, I have made numerous trips to Penzance to use the library’s broad collection of historical documents and books. Like many who use the library, I have a great fondness for the library’s incredible building, gardens, and the amazing staff who have always made me feel very welcome and supported!
My role within the library will see me work within the Morrab’s Photo Archive. The archive possesses over 17,000 photos from the local area and beyond, and it beautifully details a wide range of subjects including agriculture, community life, hobbies, leisure, working lives, schools and youth groups, transport, and even a good section on cats!
Fortunately for me, the Photo Archive possesses a broad range of photographs that beautifully illustrate the lives of maritime communities within the region. My role will be to continue to update the tags and descriptions of the collection, with my particular focus being on the fascinating range of shipwreck photos. During my time here, I will be writing blogs, an article, and deliver a talk that uses the photographic evidence to illustrate the lived experiences of these unique communities.
I hope that these blogs are of particular interest to visitors of the library and that the photos you see within the blogs inspire you to have a look at the collection! You can view them here via this link: https://morrablibrary.org.uk/photo-archive/
The Photo Archives team are available to visit in the library on Thursday mornings between 10.00am and 1.00pm, so drop in to say hello and find out more about the collections.
The Duke met staff, volunteers and members, and was given a tour of our beautiful building and its collections. Lisa put on a display of some of the treasures from the rare books, archive and historic newspaper collections, and David Puddifoot spoke with the Duke about our photographic archive, after which he enjoyed lunch with us.
Honorary Librarian Harry Spry-Leverton, said: “It was an enormous privilege to welcome His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester to the Library today, to meet our staff and volunteers, and to inspect some of the treasures, archives and books in our collections built up over some two hundred years. The Morrab Library is Cornwall’s only independent library, one of less than fifty now across the country, and this Royal visit both confers recognition and will be remembered as a memorable and historic occasion.”
The Duke also paid a visit to our wonderful neighbours at the Gardener’s House, and took a stroll around the Morrab Gardens in the sunshine.
We loved the opportunity (as ever!) to share the story of our library, to talk about the unique collections and to celebrate the Morrab Library community.
Special thanks to the Gardener’s House for their help and support in coordinating the visit, and to Lavender’s Deli in Alverton St. for their delicious catering.
Don’t forget you can make your own suggestions via the book at the front desk – or just get in touch with library staff. The Book Selection Working Group meets three times a year and considers all suggestions.
If you’d like to read anything on the lists, just contact library staff and we’ll reserve it for you.
New Fiction in the library – as at March 2026
New Non-Fiction in the library –as at March 2026
Library member Diana Wayne sought information and inspiration from the library whilst planning her rail trip in Canada last Summer. Searching our shelves, Diana found just the thing – and wrote this wonderful story about the book she discovered and her travels…
“Dear Librarians at Morrab Library,
Firstly, I sincerely apologise for keeping a book for so long without renewing it. I have now renewed it again. When I lifted this book off the shelves, it was as if it should stay with me and as I type this, it sits next to me like a cat needing to be stroked.
Before I went away, I had acquired a fairly modern guide book for my trip to Canada, from the Clarence House Therapy Centre Fundraising Book selection in the Waiting Room, another source for discerning reading matter. That book had lists of facts, stock photographs and maps, but it had no heart.
I visited the Morrab Library, hoping to find something else about the destination because I planned to keep a pictorial diary of the journey. With only a few feet of Canadian information, the designated shelf looked uninviting, but it felt like a personal invitation to reach out to this particular book. A torn cover, a preface dated 1926, with anecdotes from the early 1800s and thick, soft, tactile pages, this book seemed just what I needed to enhance my journey. I had no idea, at that time, how much it would illuminate my own travel and my notebook.
Author, Lawence J. Burpee wrote ‘On the Old Athabaska Trail’ about his own experiences a hundred years ago, while comparing them to previous travellers through that particular part of the Rocky Mountains a hundred years before that.
Every page is riveting, for instance page 182:
‘The Indians in the neighbourhood of Jasper House numbered only about fifteen or twenty. They were, according to Kane, of the Shoo-Schawp (Shuswap) tribe, of whom he made a sketch, was called Capote Blanc by the voyageurs. His real home was a long distance to the north-east (Kane must have meant to say south-west), but ’he had been treacherously entrapped whilst travelling with thirty-seven of his people, by a hostile tribe, which met him and invited him to sit down and smoke the pipe of peace. They unsuspectingly laid down their arms but before they had time to smoke their treacherous hosts seized their arms and murdered all except eleven, who managed to escape, and fled to Jasper House, where they remained, never daring to return to their own country through the hostile tribe’.…
‘A day or too later they started up the valley of Athabaska, with thirteen loaded horses…..’
How could I resist? I hoped that my travels might include these places.
I read the book twice before leaving for Canada, and made copious notes, but in the end, it made its way into my hand luggage.
I loved the anecdotes: like the mountain that was named twice by early European travellers, because they had approached it from different directions. Of course, the original indigenous names were usually ignored.
The book was giving me a real insight into those Canadian years.
I started to acquire large scale maps and then I realised that we would be staying at the town of Jasper, regularly mentioned in the book. Familiar names, apart from Athabaska, started to leap out at me, like the Kootenay, one of the names for the original local people, who would trade with Burpee.
From arriving in east Canada, our journey took thirteen days of rail travel and city touring to reach the mountains and the Athabaska River at the town of Jasper.
And there it was, a short walk beyond the railway line and amidst the elks and the prairie dogs, made longer by having to wait at a rail crossing for about 200 freight wagons to pass.
It was hidden in a canyon that was hard to reach, but it was still there.
I wanted to use the book to compare with aspects of the modern Jasper, but last year a major fire burnt down half of the town and over 80 thousand acres of surrounding forest.
A typical passage on Page 182 about the Athabaska Falls reads:
‘It hurls itself into a gloomy, awe-inspiring cavern, writhes itself there in a fury for a moment, and then flips itself down a tortuous gorge. The sullen roar of its passage could be heard while we were still down the Trail.’ Lawrence J Burpee 1926
Ross Cox went through the Pass in 1817 on page 91
The Falls are just the same today, except for the safety rails for visitors.
Now tour buses follow parts of the same Athabaska route through the mountains, with the odd bear or moose waiting in a layby for a snack. I found the places that I wished for and are still the highlight of my journey.
Niagara Falls was interesting, but Athabaska Falls will stay with me.
Thank you Morrab Library.”
Diana Wayne, July 2025