CORNWALL – ACCOUNT BOOK
Manuscript account book of James Barker of Coverack, with ownership inscription 'James Barker His Book' on reverse of front endpaper and 'James Barkers/ Book 1786' on back endpaper, comprising early entries for haberdashery and cloth ('for a Hatt', '...I yd ½ of holland... 16 buttons... thread... pins... fustain... druggett') and other goods such as sugar and candles, later entries concerning nautical matters ('...Re'd for the Little Boat Share of Copper... for Loading of Goods out of Henry Robarts...'), trading in fish (mackerel, pilchards etc.), brandy, rum and gin, repairs, piloting and landing of goods ('...For Landing Captain Martin... for Pilateing a brig from America...'), and salvage ('... share of the wreck Salvd from the brill...'), noting profits from voyages ('...1794 January 6th the Harmony sailed the first trip for Guernsey...'), with mention of local names and places ('Mr Sandys of Pengarak', 'Theophyllus Johns', 'Cousen Batt the Dockters son', 'Joseph Rogers Trebarweth'), notes on the family ('...August 9th 1789 George Barker was born/ at 11 Oclock in the morning...'), and events ('...November 5 1788 the Maccrony saild for Guernsey with Anthony Barker, Nicholas Hoskin, Philip Hicks & Francis Lowry on Bord and have not been heard of Since...'), some entries inverted, others struck through, 44 leaves, c.11 either neatly cut or roughly torn away with loss, dust-staining, ink blots and other marks, edges frayed, slightly later brown wrappers, rebacked, loose within contemporary limp ruled vellum stitched over later card, marked, worn and stained, 480 x 190mm., preserved in a black solander box, 1730's to 1790's
Footnotes:
'FOR PILATEING A BRIG FROM AMERICA': An account book used by several generations of a Cornish piloting family.

Whilst early entries in our volume relate to trade in haberdashery and concern cloth, buttons and other accoutrements, by the latter half of the century, the Barker family appear to have concentrated their efforts on piloting. The volume bears the ownership inscription of James Barker of Coverack (1747-1840) who is listed as a licenced pilot in the Compulsory Pilotage Notice for 1809 (the year licensing of pilots was first introduced). The Barker family of Coverack plied their trade as pilots for several generations, using their skilled knowledge of the coastline to help guide ships safely round the treacherous Cornish coast, boarding ships and providing information to the ships' masters on unfamiliar tides, currents and underwater hazards (Knight, T., 'Falmouth Pilots of the late Nineteenth Century', Troze: The Online Journal of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, December 2019, Vol. 8, No. 1). Judging from the entries in the present volume, the Barkers were involved in several operations, not only piloting and landing of goods but rescue and lucrative salvage operations as well as trading in fish, rum and gin. The account of the Bodmin Sessions for 4 October 1808 also identifies James Barker as a fish curer: '...shipped at Liverpool 2,800 bushels of British fishery salt to carry it to Coverack, in parish of Gweek, on account of James Barker, fish curer. During a storm on the voyage they lost 65 bushels 22 lbs. of salt...' (Archives and Cornish Studies Centre, ref. QS/1/7/555). One particularly poignant entry in our volume amongst the columns of pounds, shillings and pence serves as a reminder of the dangers faced by those who made their living on the seas: '...November 5 1788 the Maccrony saild for Guernsey with Anthony Barker, Nicholas Hoskin, Philip Hicks & Francis Lowry on Bord and have not been heard of Since...'.
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