As the operation continues to pump the 3500 tonnes of oil from the MSC Napoli before it spills, the ecology of Devon and Dorset’s coast hangs in the balance. Even though the wreck remains intact for the time being, at least a hundred sea birds have already been found contaminated by oil and there are major concerns about the health of the reef on which the Napoli is grounded.
Meanwhile, on the beach…tacky people rummage around for free nappies and car parts, creating a huge discarded mess which is adding to the negative environmental impact. Police and Coastguard resources have had to be diverted from the salvage operation, to cope with these hordes of vultures.
Well, it’s nothing new. Lyme Bay has a long Historical tradition of this sort of behaviour. It all sounds quite romantic in theory - the poor local people benefitting from the blessings of the ocean - but the reality back in Ye Olde Days was just as sordid as today, if not more so…
‘In 1749 the Hope, a Dutch vessel, ran onto Chesil Beach. Soon the story spread that she was carrying £50,000 in gold. A mob of ten thousand people gathered on the beach to loot the remains, and finally had to be dispersed by the army. In 1795 a fleet carrying a regiment to the West Indies was wrecked on the beach opposite Fleet House, over three hundred bodies were subsequently buried in a mass grave on the beach. Most of them had been stripped naked by the local people. A hundred years later, on a freezing night in November 1872 the Royal Adelaide was wrecked at the Portland end of the beach, the cargo included brandy and rum. Some looters drank themselves insensible, and froze to death. Nearly as many people died of exposure as drowned in the shipwreck.’ (with thanks to this site)
I’ve even heard tales of salvers bitiing the ears of the dead to get their earings………not human behaviour in it’s highest form
Sorry for this digression, but why are we surprised at the bad behaviour of our young people when we adults(?) behave like this? ASBO for the Heritage Coast?
From the evidence of the news footage I’ve seen, the scavengers were both young and old, and came from both the locality and places as far away as, erm, Liverpool.