Dr Cathryn Pearce
Office: T005
Email: Cathryn.Pearceucs.ac.uk|
Phone: 01473 338816 (or leave a message with Graham Thirkettle 01473 338489)
Dr Cathryn Pearce grew up on the Alaskan coast, which gave her an appreciation for the sea and for maritime history. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Greenwich's Greenwich Maritime Institute, 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 UCS in September 2009.
Cathryn is also an Honorary Research Associate at the Greenwich Maritime Institute and secretary for the publications committee for the Society for Nautical Research.
Teaching and Other Responsibilities
Europe 1500-1789 |
Europe 1789-1914 |
The British Empire: Sunrise to Sunset |
Maritime Nation: Britain and the Sea since 1500 |
Suffolk and the Sea |(forthcoming 2011/12)
Dissertation| Supervision
Research Interests and Publications
Cathryn's research interests include Local and Regional Maritime History, centring on:
* A continuation of her doctoral research on wrecking, with focus on the development and use of wrecking narratives, and an extension of my 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
Cathryn's recent publication and research activity includes:
Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860: Reality and Popular Myth|, (Boydell and Brewer, 2010).
'The Cornish Arundells and their Right of Wreck' chapter for the New Maritime History of Cornwall, edited by Philip Payton, Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter, and Helen Doe, Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter. Forthcoming 2010.
"Neglectful or Worse:'" A Lurid Tale of a Lighthouse Keeper and Wrecking,' Troze, journal of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Sept 2008.
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.
Select Conference Papers and Public Presentations
"Lured by False Lights: Cornish Wrecking and Victorian Myth," International Congress of Maritime History, University of Greenwich, June 2008.
'"...the grim hell-hounds prowling round the shore... :" Cornwall and the communal practice of wrecking in the long eighteenth century'. Shipwreck in the Long Eighteenth-Century Conference, University of Nottingham-Trent and the National Maritime Museum, London, England, May 2006.
"'Neglectful or Worse:' A Lurid Tale of a Lighthouse Keeper and Wrecking'. First Cornwall Maritime History Conference, National Maritime Museum, Falmouth, Cornwall, September 2004.
"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, August 1997.