The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas and Plundered Shipwrecks, from the 18th Century to the Present DayHMH, 23 de ago. de 2013 - 352 páginas An “entertaining” historical investigation into the scavengers who have profited off the spoils of maritime disasters (The Washington Post). Even today, Britain’s coastline remains a dangerous place. It is an island soaked by four separate seas, with shifting sand banks to the east, veiled reefs to the west, powerful currents above, and the world’s busiest shipping channel below. The country’s offshore waters are strewn with shipwrecks—and for villagers scratching out an existence along Britain’s shores, those wrecks have been more than simply an act of God; in many cases, they have been the difference between living well and just getting by. Though Daphne du Maurier and Poldark have made Cornwall famous as Britain’s most notorious region for wrecking, many other coastal communities regarded the “sea’s bounty” as a way of providing themselves with everything from grapefruits to grand pianos. Some plunderers were held to be so skilled that they could strip a ship from stem to stern before the Coast Guard had even left port. Some were rumored to lure ships onto the rocks with false lights, and some simply waited for winter gales to do their work. This book uncovers tales of ships and shipwreck victims—from shoreline orgies so Dionysian that few participants survived the morning to humble homes fitted with silver candelabra, from coastlines rigged like stage sets to villages where everyone owns identical tennis shoes. Spanning three hundred years of history, The Wreckers examines the myths, realities, and superstitions of shipwrecks and uncovers the darker side of life on Britain’s shores. “Bathurst, who won a Somerset Maugham Award for The Lighthouse Stevensons, offers a spellbinding tale of seafaring men, their ships and the ocean that cares for neither.” —Publishers Weekly “A fascinating, haunting account of pillagers, plunderers, and pirates.” —John Burnett, author of Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas |
De dentro do livro
Resultados 1-5 de 42
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... Lighthouse Board, is always the best of companions and interviewees. In London, Ben Griffiths provided invaluable legal research, while the staff of the Signet Library, the Scottish Public Records Office, Kirkwall Library, the Maritime ...
... Lighthouse Board, is always the best of companions and interviewees. In London, Ben Griffiths provided invaluable legal research, while the staff of the Signet Library, the Scottish Public Records Office, Kirkwall Library, the Maritime ...
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... Lighthouse Board's inspection vessel. Robert Louis Stevenson's father, Thomas, would have been on the yacht with his own father Robert on a tour around all the Scottish lights. In time, seven Stevensons would become engineers to the ...
... Lighthouse Board's inspection vessel. Robert Louis Stevenson's father, Thomas, would have been on the yacht with his own father Robert on a tour around all the Scottish lights. In time, seven Stevensons would become engineers to the ...
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... lighthouses. Concealed within the pages of their Minute Books were hints of protest and resistance, whispers of sabotage, and - once in a while - a yell of outrage when a lightkeeper was caught rigging the wreck return books or ...
... lighthouses. Concealed within the pages of their Minute Books were hints of protest and resistance, whispers of sabotage, and - once in a while - a yell of outrage when a lightkeeper was caught rigging the wreck return books or ...
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... lighthouses, no beacons, no VHF or radar. Captains relied as much on a keeneyed lookout as they did on any more sophisticated technology. Small wonder that there were wrecks, and plenty of them. For this reason, I have chosen to confine ...
... lighthouses, no beacons, no VHF or radar. Captains relied as much on a keeneyed lookout as they did on any more sophisticated technology. Small wonder that there were wrecks, and plenty of them. For this reason, I have chosen to confine ...
Página
... lighthouses, lifeboats, load lines, watertight bulkheads, effective anti-scorbutics, cork lifejackets, and several ... lighthouse authority - which up until the early eighteenth century had been much more interested in making money on ...
... lighthouses, lifeboats, load lines, watertight bulkheads, effective anti-scorbutics, cork lifejackets, and several ... lighthouse authority - which up until the early eighteenth century had been much more interested in making money on ...
Conteúdo
3 PENTLAND FIRTH | |
4 SCILLY ISLES | |
Plates 116
| |
5 WEST COAST | |
6 ROYAL FISH | |
7 CORNWALL | |
8 EAST COAST | |
EPILOGUE | |
Back Matter | |
Back Flap | |
Back Cover | |
Spine | |
Outras edições - Ver todos
The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas and Plundered Shipwrecks, from the ... Bella Bathurst Visualização parcial - 2005 |
Termos e frases comuns
Adantic Ajay Alang ashore beach beachmen Bella Bathurst boat Britain British captain cargo century Channel Cita cliffs coasdine coastguard coastline Colquhoun Cornish Cornwall Corrievreckan crew crofts customs diving drowned Duncansby Head everything exacdy false lights fishermen fishing gale Goodwin Sands Goodwins hovellers Hugh Town islands Isles Jamaica Inn knew land lifeboat lighthouse lives Lloyd's London look loot mainland mariners maritime miles navigational never no-one Northern Lighthouse Board officers Orkney Pendand Firth pick pilots pirates plunder police Ramsgate Receiver of Wreck reefs remains river RNLI rocks round sail sailors salvage salvors Sands says Scapa Flow Scillies Scillonians Scilly Isles ship shipowners shipwreck shore side someone South Ronaldsay stand Stanton Stogdon story Stroma stuff Swona Thames there's things tide vessels washed weather whale whisky Whisky Galore wind wreckers