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The Wreckers

A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights and Plundered Ships

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The Wreckers

By: Bella Bathurst
Narrated by: Rebecca Crankshaw
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About this listen

From the best-selling author of The Lightouse Stevensons, a gripping history of the drama and danger of wrecking since the 18th-century - and the often grisly ingenuity of British wreckers, scavengers of the sea.

A fine wreck has always represented sport, pleasure, treasure and, in many cases, the difference between living well and just getting by. The Cornish were supposed to be so ferocious that notices of shipwrecks were given out during morning service by the minister whilst the congregation spent their time concocting elaborate theological justifications for drowning the survivors. Treeless islanders relied on the harvest of storms to furnish themselves with rafters, boat hulls, fence posts and floors. In other places false lights were set up with grisly ingenuity along the coast to lure boats to destruction.

With romance, insight and dry wit, Bella Bathurst traces the history of wrecking, looting and salvaging in the British Isles since the 18th century and leading up to the present day. '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,' she writes. 'A Selfridges with the prices removed.'

Far from being a black-and-white crime, wrecking is often seen as opaque by its practitioners - the divisions between theft and recovery are small. No successful legal prosecution has ever been brought; the RNLI was founded by wreckers - even today lifeboat crews maintain the right to claim salvage; and since the sinking of the Cita in 1997, the inhabitants of the Scilly Isles have a startling propensity to sport Ben Sherman shirts.

In settings ranging from the eerily perambulatory Goodwin Sands to the wreck-strewn waters off the coast of Durham, these murky tales of resourcefulness and quick-witted opportunism open a beguiling vista of life at the rough edges of our land and legality.

©2005 Bella Bathurst (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Great Britain

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Fascinating History

Bella Bathurst's study is a fascinating account of the history of Britain's dangerous coastline over the past few hundred years and the people who live there and live off it. The book is divided by chapter into geographic areas, dealing with the Goodwin Sands/English Channel, Pentland Firth, Scilly Isles, Corryvrecken Whirlpool, River Thames, Cornish Coast, and East Coast. Bathurst has done thorough research on her topic, both from historical archives, and from personal interviews carried out in each location.

The down side is Rebecca Crankshaw's narration. She insists on doing 'voices' for people whose words are quoted in the book, performed in various regional British accents, which grow more outrageous as the chapters wear on. I thought she might have been drunk in the chapter on the Scottish coast, because the accents were beyond the pale. It is simply unethical to 'play' at people's voices: this is not a novel, these are real people. However, the final chapter deals with the ship-breaking industry in India and here Crankshaw's 'Indian' accent is nothing short of racist. I don't understand how Audible allowed this to pass.

I don't know if the printed book came with maps; there are no PDFs included in the audiobook, which is a pity as it would have assisted those not familiar with the British coast. However, I followed along each chapter on Google Maps and that worked well.

Great subject matter, well researched and worth the listen; pity about the 'voices'.

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The Wreckers slowly lists off topic.

The author commences by providing a clear timeline of 300 years to the present day and limits the scope to the geography of the United Kingdom, specifically England and Scotland. I was quite excited to hear of salty tales, false lights, the hardships of island and isolated coastal life and the tie in to the Stevensons lighthouse building, so I don't know why I feel a little let down .

The geography of these coasts are wild, treacherous and lined with thousands of wrecks, you would imagine plenty of tales for the writing. Although the past tales were lightly touched upon, the author dives into interviews with currently living folks, asking if they were theives or had played a part in wrecks during their lifetime. Should that have been a question, as admission could see them prosecuted.

Eventually the author lands us in modern day India where people dismantle ships for a living but I don't see how this fits with the advertised "plot" fit the book or the geographic location of the UK.

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable listen, the narrator, Rebecca Crankshaw was superb.

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