Mullion Cove is a picture-postcard place to swim, with access both from the beach and from the harbour steps. On a calm day you can swim out of the harbour and explore the craggy coastline with just the seabirds as company. Just half a mile offshore you can see Mullion Island, uninhabited apart from large colonies of gulls and cormorants.
The largest village in the Lizard peninsular on the south coast, Mullion was always a fishing community and brought ashore a large amount of pilchard. The old pilchard cellar and net store still stands on the left of the harbour wall but there are only a couple of fishing boats operating from the harbour these days.
Mullion’s harbour was constructed in the 1890s but before that, it was a great spot for Cornish smuggling. In 1786, notorious smuggler Thomas Welland was caught off Mullion Island by Captain (later Admiral) Pellew and The Waterguard – a fleet of fast boats designed to catch smugglers around the British coast. Welland tried to make a run for it in his 14-gun vessel the ‘Happy go Lucky’ but was caught and killed, with half of his 30-man crew injured. It’s said that Welland’s cargo was fighting cocks, and in the battle, the birds escaped and launched their own brawl against each other on the decks…
Similar spots: another place brimming with Cornish smuggling stories ~ Bessy’s Cove
