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    Transcriber's Note:

    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
    possible. The Cornish dialect written by Captain Carter includes
    inconsistencies in spelling and capitalisation. Some changes have
    been made. They are listed at the end of the text.

    Blank spaces, representing missing words in the original MS., have
    been replaced by "[...]".

    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.

    Text marked ^{thus} was superscripted.




[Illustration]




A CORNISH SMUGGLER


[Illustration: LANDING THE CARGO.

_F. BRANGWYN._]




 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
 OF
 A CORNISH SMUGGLER


 (CAPTAIN HARRY CARTER, OF PRUSSIA COVE)

 1749-1809

 _WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES_

 BY
 JOHN B. CORNISH

 SECOND EDITION.

 London:
 GIBBINGS & CO., LTD., 18 BURY STREET, W.C.
 J. POLLARD, TRURO, PENZANCE, & FALMOUTH.
 1900.

 WILLIAM BYLES AND SONS, PRINTERS,
 129 FLEET STREET, LONDON,
 AND BRADFORD.




INTRODUCTION.


The existence of the Autobiography which is published in the following
pages came to my knowledge in the course of a chance conversation with a
distant relative of the writer's family. The original manuscript has
been carefully preserved, and has been for many years in the possession
of Mr. G. H. Carter, of Helston. He received it from his father, the G.
Carter mentioned on page 1, who was a nephew of Harry Carter himself.
The memoir of the writer, which will be found in the "Wesleyan Methodist
Magazine" for October, 1831, was based upon information supplied by G.
Carter, partly from the manuscript and partly from his own knowledge. It
is now printed from the manuscript which was kindly lent to me for the
purpose by Mr. G. H. Carter.

The part of Cornwall to which the autobiography chiefly relates is the
district lying between the two small towns of Marazion and Helston, a
distance of about ten miles on the north-eastern shores of Mounts Bay,
comprising the parishes of Breage, Germoe, St. Hilary, and Perranuthnoe.
The bay is practically divided into two parts by Cuddan Point, a sharp
small headland about two miles east from St. Michael's Mount. The
western part runs into the land in a roughly semicircular shape, and is
so well sheltered that it has almost the appearance of a lake, in fact,
the extreme north-western corner is called Gwavas Lake. From the hills
which surround it the land everywhere <DW72>s gently to the sea, and is
thickly inhabited. The towns of Penzance and Marazion and the important
fishing village of Newlyn occupy a large portion of the shore, and
around them are woody valleys and well cultivated fields. To the
eastward of Cuddan is a marked contrast. There, steep and rocky cliffs
are only broken by two long stretches of beach, Pra Sand and the Looe
Bar, on which the great seas which come always from the Atlantic make
landing impossible except on a few rare summer days. With the exception
of the little fishing station of Porthleven there is not a place all
along the coast from Cuddan Point to the Lizard large enough to be
called a village. Inland the country is in keeping with the character
of the coast. Trees are very scarce, and the stone hedges, so
characteristic of all the wild parts of West Cornwall, the patches of
moorland, and the scattered cottages, make the whole appearance bare and
exposed.

Porth Leah, or the King's Cove, now more usually known as Prussia
Cove,[1] around which so much of the interest of the narrative centres,
lies a little to the eastward of Cuddan Point. There are really two
coves divided from one another by a point and a small island called the
"Enez." The western cove, generally called "Bessie's Cove," is a most
sheltered and secluded place. It is so well hidden from the land that it
is impossible to