Book Review 1: Moonfleet

Couple of reviews of sailing and boating books I've read recently.

First up its that classic tale of smugglers and wreckers from the 19th Century, J. Meade Falkner's Moonfleet.

I read it last many years ago when a child, and had forgotten most of the plot until pretty much the page before when suddenly it was case of "oh, of course, I remember now, the treasure is of course hidden there" (as to where "there" is you'll just have to read it to find out).

Its a thrilling boys own yarn full of adventures in boats, escaping those darn excise men, a priceless diamond, haunted church-yards, treachery, betrayal, loyalty between men and the faithfulness of a true woman.

I say boys own, as there is a distinct lack of modern female role models: I do wonder if my nieces would enjoy it as much as my nephews. Having said that one of my niece's female cousins recently said she loved it.

The plot is a bit episodic which doesn't follow the classic Robert McKee three acts and over-arching story arc but rather bounces in different directions like a small boat in a storm.

Overall I really enjoyed it and want to head down to Dorset to explore the real village of East Fleet on which Moonfleet was based.

Chocs Away!

More gifts from the sea for the wreckers. In Scotland they had Whisky Galore, but in England now its a case of Biscuits Galore with chocolate McVities spilt by the Riverdance (above, Flickr photo) all over the beach at Blackpool.

The Ice Prince and the Wreckers

Another case of wreckers vs the law this week along the south coast of England.

These piles of drift-wood come from the boat the "Ice Prince" which sank 20 miles off the Dorset coastline a week ago. Its cargo of planks is now piled high on the Sussex beaches, and again is being picked off by wreckers looking for new floor-boards.

Alas experts say they are too water-logged to be useful. Full story, pictures and video via this link.

Real Wreckers?

While the Timewatch program last night on the BBC was about the history of wrecking, there was an article in the today's paper about a more recent example.

About a year ago the container ship Napoli (below) was beached to avoid worse damage in heavy seas, several containers were disloged and washed up on Branscombe Beach in Devon. This resulted in the feeding frenzy of scavengers (above).

The law in this situation is given in this post at the MCA. The owner of boat and containers has appointed contractors to clear up the area and recover that which has value. Any voluntary salvage should be reported to the receiver of wrecks, as described here.

However in the minds of many - in particular those that recovered goods - if they find it it's theirs.

This might work for small scale things - the odd trainer where the cost of recovering exceeds the value of the item. But does that approach, that the value is so small there is no harm in just taking it, apply when the goods in question are brand new working BMW motor bikes?

Wreckers and Vikings

Couple of good programs on the BBC covering maritime history recently.

On the 5th January there was a 90 minute program covering the voyage of a reconstructed Viking ship, Sea Stallion, from Denmark across the North Sea, around the top of Scotland, then down the Inner Hebrides to Ireland. The destination was Dublin, a city founded by Vikings many centuries ago.

It was a very cold and wet crossing with very cramped conditions: about a square metre of deck space per crew. The boat wasn't great into the wind - nearest it could get was about 60 degrees - and in trials they found they could get 2 knots rowing into the wind against just 1 knot sailing. You can read about the Sea Stallion here and there's lots of clips from the BBC Timewatch documentary here.

Today there's just been another such program, this time about the history of wreckers around the coast of Britain. From the Scillies, to the Cornwall coast, to the Goodwins Sands, to far north of Scotland, wrecked boats have been plundered in their hundreds if not thousands over the centuries.

The law was often counterproductive: the boat was only considered wrecked if all were dead. Hence it was in the interest of the scavengers to kill - or at least not give much aide - to the survivors.

It was a rather grizzly story of poverty driving crime, completely lacking the gentle humour of Whisky Galore, but still fascinating. More here.