Dr Cathryn Pearce

Dr Cathryn Pearce grew up on the Alaskan coast, which gave her an appreciation for the sea and for maritime history. She received her PhD from the Greenwich Maritime Institute (GMI), where she investigated the actual practices of Cornish wrecking, as opposed to the folkoric narratives. Her previous history qualifications include a BA in History from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and an MA in British and Maritime History from the University of Victoria in Canada. She taught at the University of Alaska Anchorage-Kenai Peninsula College before relocating to England, and joining the History team at University Campus Suffolk (UCS) in September 2009.
Dr Pearce is also an honorary research associate at the GMI, secretary for the publications committee for the Society for Nautical Research and a full-time lecturer in the history department of UCS.

Research/scholarly interests

Cathryn's research interests include local and regional maritime history, focusing on:

• Wrecking, with focus on the development and use of wrecking narratives, and an extension of her geographical focus beyond Cornwall so she may further develop her studies from a comparative perspective. She will be investigating Suffolk practices in particular
• The role of shipwrecks in coastal communities, including legitimate salvage activities, lifesaving, and the treatment of shipwreck survivors
• European Exploration of the Northwest Coast of North America. 

Selected publications

Books

Pearce, C. (2010) Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860: Reality and Popular Myth. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer.

Journal articles and book chapters

Pearce, C. (forthcoming) The Cornish Arundells and their Right of Wreck. In: Payton, P., and Doe, H. (eds.) New Maritime History of Cornwall. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

Pearce, C. (2008) Neglectful or worse: a lurid tale of a lighthouse keeper and wrecking. Troze, Journal of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall.

Select Conference Papers and Public Presentations

Pearce, C. 2008. Lured by false lights: Cornish wrecking and Victorian myth. In: University of Greenwich, International Congress of Maritime History. Greenwich, June 2008.

Pearce, C. 2006. "...the grim hell-hounds prowling round the shore... :" Cornwall and the communal practice of wrecking in the long 18th century. In: University of Nottingham-Trent and the National Maritime Museum, Shipwreck in the Long 18th Century Conference. London.

Pearce, C. 2004. Neglectful or Worse: A lurid tale of a lighthouse keeper and wrecking. In: National Maritime Museum, First Cornwall Maritime History Conference. Falmouth, Cornwall.

Pearce, C. 1997. Willing and unwilling: women travellers on the Pacific Northwest coast, 1787–1870. Society for the History of Discoveries/Hakluyt Society Annual Meeting and Conference. St. John's, Newfoundland.

Television and radio

Historical consultant and Interview for BBC Radio 4's Making History programme, September 2008. Aired December 2008.

Historical consultant and Interview by BBC's flagship documentary Timewatch series for episode "In Search of the Wreckers." Aired January 2008.