Dr Helen Doe

Research

Helen Doe has research expertise in a wide range of different types of maritime business, including the well organised smuggling trade. She has a particular interest in the era of sailing ships and the men and women who built, owned and sailed them. She has researched many aspects of both naval and mercantile navy history. Her current research projects include maritime communities, the maritime history of Cornwall, naval wives and widows, and marine insurance.

Helen’s interest in maritime history started with research on the Slade shipbuilders of Polruan. This led to her book Jane Slade of Polruan, which tells the story of a woman shipbuilder who became the inspiration for Daphne du Maurier’s first novel.

See an example of Helen's research into Cornish smugglers in the early nineteenth century. Or you may like to read about the fifteenth-century Fowey pirates who intercepted and robbed Spanish ships.