RECORDS RELATING TO RIGHT OF WRECK

The Arundells obtained rights of wreck, usually a royal perquisite, within Penwith when they acquired lordship of that hundred. Most of these documents are consequently concerned with Penwith although some relate to shipwrecks within the manors of Lanherne and Bejowan and one, inherited from the Dinhams, to Hartland in Devon. The records include grants of diving rights, bills and accounts for salvage, testimonies given in the Admiralty Court, correspondence and extracts concerning wreck from Connerton, Lanherne and Bejowan court rolls.

Most of the documents are arranged in chronological order; the following groups relate to particular cases:

AR/15/4 - 41 Theft at Newquay of cargo from vessels called the St George of Flushing and Samson of Bremen in 1571.

AR/15/54 - 61 Dispute in 1683-86, beginning at the Cornwall Assizes and then in Chancery, between the Arundells and Francis Basset who claimed the right to wreck within his manor of Tehidy. Francis Basset was an infant and so sued through his mother and guardian, Lucy Basset, a widow. See also AR/15/184, an account of the Basset-Arundell disputes drawn up in 1758.

AR/15/74 Documents relating to the recovery of wool stolen from the William and Sarah of Dublin in in 1706. See also the estate correspondence (AR/10) for a detailed account of this incident.

AR/15/105 - 108 Documents relating to the Swedish vessel 'Sweedse Vryheydt' brought to St Ives in 1753 after being wrecked off the coast of France. See also AR/10/725 for correspondence on this incident.

AR/15/109 - 174 Lawsuit in Common Pleas, the Arundells disputing General Onslow's claim to wreck in the manor of Lanisley in Gulval. The case concerned wine washed ashore in April 1755 and was finally heard and won by the Arundells in 1761. It was styled Arundell v. Borlase, the nominal defendant being George Borlase of Penzance, Onslow's steward. The documents include three sketch plans of Penwith Hundred showing where the wrecked wine was found.

AR/15/175 - 182 Dispute with the Admiralty over two casks of brandy salvaged near Penzance in December 1755 by the Mary and Alice, a pilchard sloop.

<p>See also Cornwall Record Office AR/10 for estate correspondence sometimes concerning wreck.</p>