Pembrokeshire has nearly two hundred miles of coastline, harbours and inlets, lighthouses and islands. The county is full of sea stories.

Bartholomew Roberts (1682 - 1722), of Little Newcastle, is our most successful pirate. In the Caribbean and West Africa between 1719 and 1722 he captured 470 ships. He is believed to have started his life at sea in 1695 when he was 13. In 1719, he was second mate on the slave ship 'Princess'. Following the capture of the ship, he was forced to join a pirate crew. Hywel Davies, the crew captain, was killed six weeks later, and Roberts was chosen to replace him. In 1722 Barti was hit and struck in the neck by a bullet and killed. His body was thrown into the sea as he wished.

There are many stories of mermaids in the county and tales of smugglers and saints crossing the sea to Ireland. There is plenty of information about shipwrecks and sea trade in the collections of the Maritime Museum of Wales, Swansea but also at the Milford Maritime Heritage Museum

The sea has offered man opportunity, romance and danger over the centuries. As trade carried mariners from one continent to another, special multi-racial communities gradually developed in the docks near our coastal cities e.g. Tiger Bay. Learning about the residents' heritage is interesting.

Today, our use of the sea is important but very different. World-class oil tankers, Irish ferries, tourists and fishermen use our ports. Marine health is a hot topic and plastics threaten sea life. RNLI volunteers and Coastguards protect those who venture into the waves.