The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights and Plundered Ships

click here for more details, find new or used items	Bella Bathurst Our price £6.99 (£8.99) New from £3.34 Used from £0.25 Pages: 320 (Paperback) ISBN: 0007170335 Pub: HarperPerennial Pub date: 2006-03-06 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 129468

Reader Reviews:

Mariners will love this. (0/0 people found this helpful)

An interesting look at the history of wreckers and the myths that surround them.This book is a fascinating tale of some truely dangerous d waters around our British coastline and those who profitted from them.The fact that corpses were of great monetary value at one time, and that any poor survivor of a wreak was better off dead to the wreckers was horrifying! A good read.

Disappointing. (0/0 people found this helpful)

Could have been such a great book (in theory), butthe author has just got together a collection of details and made them into a book.

No wind in the sails (0/0 people found this helpful)

Its seductive sub-title of 'A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights and Plundered Ships' gives the impression that 'The Wreckers' will be a book which throws a torch-beam upon the romantic mysticism surrounding this dubious profession, uncovers the truths behind the legends, and provides some entertaining tales of bravado and ingenuity such as those featured in Richards Platt's far superior 'Smuggling in the British Isles' (read this).

Unfortunately it is painfully clear from page one that there simply aren't enough detailed sources of information to write a substantial book on the subject. The mistake Bathurst made was to continue to attempt the work using the extremely limited resources she had acquired. What results is essentially a book about the dangerous parts of Britain's coast which gives occasional mention to the activity of wreckers in reference to a particular ship.

The book is split into 7 chapters, each featuring a different area of the country. Each chapter explains the geography of the region, describes the inhabitants of the area, interviews a couple of local residents, and gives info on various shipwrecks. Unfortunately when you've read one chapter you've read them all. Furthermore when she finally does provide a reliable tale of wrecking she dwells on it far too long until eventually even this redeeming feature becomes tedious.

It seems that Bathurst doesn't want to admit the conclusion that her research has lead her to - wrecking never was as widespread or as exciting as our imaginations like to assume, and like all good legends, it should stay as exactly that. I would not recommend this book but Bathurst is a good author and researcher and her other book 'The Lighthouse Stevensons' is an acquired taste but a good read.

Outstanding (0/3 people found this helpful)

Drenched in the salt folklore of an island nation, Bathurst's book is a tour de force. Her research is faultless and exhaustive, and shows that the era of the "wrecker" has not ended. By turns amusing, educational and shocking, the book gripped me until the final page.

Not Bad... (5/6 people found this helpful)

I must admit I was hoping for a bit more from this book, it does attempt to cover the topic of Wrecking in Britain in some detail but I fear it is suffering (like so many books on a specific history subject) from a lack of material.

There is alot of padding and some blatantly off topic issues discussed such as Whales at the Natural History Museum!!

Unfortunately I think the book's problem is that Wrecking in the British Isles is simply not a subject large enough to warrant an entire book on it...perhaps if it was wrecking in the world at large perhaps it would make a more gripping read.

I did like the photographs and some of the stories about real wrecking incidents; Particularly the story of a young clergyman who, during a morning stroll on a beach, stumbled upon a shipwrecked sailor's corpse. He ran to find help and came across a cornishman out for a walk, he asked the man what he should do about the body and the cornishman replied 'Search his pockets' and walked off!

All in all it was fairly interesting but it had the potential to be alot better had it covered a broader subject.

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