THE WRECKERS
A fine shipwreck has always represented sport, pleasure, treasure, and in many cases, the difference between living well and just getting by. Though it is the Cornish who became most notorious for wrecking, coastal communities throughout Britain regarded as the "sea's bounty" as an impromptu way of providing themselves with everything from grapefruits to grand pianos.

Some plunderers were supposed to be so skilled that they could strip a ship from stem to stern before the Coastguard had left port, some were supposed to lure ships onto the rocks with false lights, some simply waited for winter gales to do their work.

"For a fully laden general cargo to run to ground in an accessible position is more or less like having Selfridges crash-land in your back garden," writes Bella Bathurst, "a Selfridges with the prices removed."

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