also because a greater number of men were employed on the new system. Packets were first
stationed at Falmouth in or about the year 1688,
when some were employed to sail to Corunna; and
in 1705 they ran to the West Indies; in 1709 five
sailed to Lisbon ; and the number gradually increased. In 1827 there were thirty-nine packets
employed. But all this came to an end in 1850,
when the mails were sent from Southampton in
place of Falmouth.
The church was dedicated in 1663 to Charles the Martyr. It is a mean building, without architectural merit, and with a stumpy tower, vastly inferior to the other church dedicated to the royal martyr at Plymouth.
Pendennis Castle (Pen-Dinas, the Castle on the Head) is not a very striking feature. It was erected in the reign of Henry VIII., but it has been since somewhat extended. In 1644 Pendennis sheltered the unfortunate Henrietta Maria, when embarking for France. It was from hence that Arwenack House, esteemed the finest mansion in Cornwall, was fired, during the siege by the Parliamentary troops, lest it should furnish them with shelter. John Arundell, of Trerice, commonly called Jack-for-the-King, defended it for six months, he being in his eighty-seventh year, and only surrendered when starved out.
From the ramparts a fine view is obtained of the Lizard promontory, and of the terrible Manacles, on which the Mohegan was lost in October, 1898. Perhaps even more terrible was the wreck of the
