Falmouth, in Cornwall, is synonymous with the Packet Service of the late 17th to mid 19th Centuries. At one time there were more than 40 Packet ships working for the Post Office out of Falmouth, transporting the mail and passengers around the world.
This exciting new project will educate both children and adults in how the Packet Service made Falmouth the hub of international news. Our aim is to make Falmouth Packet Ship CIC, and therefore this website, the first port of call for all knowledge about the Packet Service and it’s ships and to eventually build a full-size Packet Ship, a replica of the Duke of Marlborough. This brig was originally built in 1806 in Little Falmouth for one of the most famous Packet Ship Captains of the time: John Bull. The Duke of Marlborough will bring history to life with sailing experiences, charter work and shipping cargo. She will create local jobs and bring visitors to the area.
The Packet Ship will be a reminder of what made Falmouth a bustling town and sea port, but more than that, she will be used to help train a new generation in the craft of wooden boatbuilding and sailing, and with the rising popularity of wooden ships, the Duke of Marlborough will be reborn, not just as a showpiece to remember history by, but also as an educational force for good for the future.
This project will help to raise further awareness of Falmouth’s rich maritime heritage.
**NEW for 2025**
DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH to be ENGINELESS!
Yes, that’s right, a major decision has been reached on whether or not to have an engine onboard the Duke. After long deliberation and after considering the benefits and detriments to engineless sailing we have decided to do things the old-fashioned way and NOT have a mechanical propulsion system on board. NO ENGINE. Our plan is to have a small auxiliary power unit (APU), which will be a tiny petrol/diesel generator, to charge batteries and run the essential services that are required for a modern-day vessel. Things such as automatic fire safety systems, nav systems, nav lights, internal lighting and heating, etc. all need to be powered somehow, but this will be a very tiny unit compared to the size of engine that would be required to propel the Duke through the water.
We’ll be ‘kedging’ out to the sailing area in the traditional way, or waiting for the wind, or getting a tow from a tug occasionally. This will save money on fuel and reduce harmful polluting emissions. It will mean that we have to anchor further out in the Carrick Roads or in Falmouth Bay more often, to make it possible for us to sail off our mooring more easily, but we think this will be preferable to just turning on an engine without thinking.
Engineless sailing requires a totally different way of thinking. The skipper has to plan further ahead and pay more respect to a lea shore. Having an engine makes a sailor lazy in that respect as it’s always assumed that ‘I can sail as close to shore as I want because if the wind dies I can always start the engine’. All sailors know that the engine will fail to start when you need it in an emergency!
As well as saving fuel and preventing pollution there will be big cost savings for the construction of the Duke without having to allow for an engine. Not only the cost of the engine but also all associated items such as propellor, prop shaft, stern tube, large fuel tanks, electronic systems, automatic fire suppression systems, etc. And we’ll be saving space in the hold.