There may even have been a cannon near to the site on Henscath as there is today to provide additional defence. A story emerged that one night an old man employed as a night watchman, saw a boat come into view heading for the landing area. Taken aback he shouted down to what was actually a fishing boat returning home late. He shouted ""who goes here"?" to the occupants of the boat and received the reply ""Fish and Panniers"". Being confused and surprised he interpreted the reply as ""French and Spaniards"" and immediately panicked before rushing off to light the Beacon fearing an enemy attack was imminent. The sky was soon lit up and seen by other Beacon watchers who lit their own Beacons as instructed and before long the "Ring of Fire" was ablaze, putting the local Cornish populace into a fearful state for their lives and ready for an invasion: We can only guess at how long it took for the true story to come out and the embarrassment caused. Although there has been a fishing cove at Mullion for several hundred years a small seine fishery began in the early 1700s with fish being processed at Newlyn.