Cornwall is unique, a law unto itself, and Marsden, a travel writer, has lived there for more than 20 years. In this enjoyable, escapist read he explores his own patch in his 21ft-harbour launch, Liberty. He mixes personal reminiscences with the story of how Falmouth became Britain's main packet port, and how the sea shaped the destinies of Cornish families such as the Killigrews, giving them power at court. Falmouth attracted pirates, smugglers and privateers but also Quakers, Jews and the black composer Joseph Emidy, said to rival Beethoven, although none of his music has survived. When the railway came to Falmouth in 1863 it signalled the end of the golden age of sail. Modernity brought with it the National Maritime Museum, Pizza Express and Rick Stein's Fish and Chips. Marsden's interests are wide-ranging, from the technicalities of boat design to Shakespeare's sea imagery and, from a long-forgotten document in Truro's Cornwall Record Office, he even discovers where Avery the Pirate buried his bullion.