Peter Jackson column

Jan 25 2007 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

We seem to exist in a state of permanent, near-hysterical indignation these days.

No sooner has the international furore over the Celebrity Big Brother freak show begun to subside into an almost theological debate over the precise category of sin committed - racism or class envy - than we are presented with a new outrage on the Devon coast.

Nobody can be unaware that the cargo ship MSC Napoli was beached about a mile offshore Branscombe, Devon, and about 40 containers from the ship were washed up on the beach.

This was much to the delight of many hundreds who descended on the beach to help themselves to everything from £12,000 motorbikes to disposable nappies.

Their behaviour has been variously described as despicable, sheer greed, stealing, and, echoing the Jade Goodie row in attempting to find a truly heinous modern crime - environmentally damaging.

Personally, it cheered me up in these dreary January days. Partly because I like to see people enjoying themselves, whether that be through beachcombing, or by working themselves into a lather over beachcombing, and partly because it appeals to my sense of the historical.

There is a long tradition in this country, particularly in Devon and Cornwall, with their rocky coastlines and strong prevailing onshore winds, of what was known as wrecking.

It was indeed an important part of the local economy, allowing people who otherwise had to rely on the hard trades of fishing or tin mining to have some relief in what must have been a pretty miserable existence.

At least the coastguards and the Receiver of Wreck, who have been foaming with impotent rage at the enterprising folk of Devon, can console themselves that no-one in this case resorted to the old wrecker's trick of luring the Napoli to its doom by displaying false lights to mimic a lighthouse.

In 1707, no less a person than Sir Cloudesley Shovell, commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy, was shipwrecked near Scilly and was washed ashore, only to be promptly murdered by a local woman for his jewellery.

We would never want to go back to that, but tolerating a little good humoured wrecking such as we have seen in Devon might do something to revive flagging coastal economies.

At the very least it might keep Jade Goodie off the news.