On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:45:16 +0000, Sacha
wrote:
big snip
However, the recent looting of the beach was not wrecking.
It was, by the traditional use of the word in these parts. You may
also call it looting if you will but that's not what it would be
called down here.
I've just checked Martin's reference, and apparently Sir Cloudesley
Shovel was killed by a woman for his emerald ring. It must have been
what you read. The story goes that when his body was found, his ring
was missing. The woman is said to have confessed on her death-bed,
many years later that she 'squeezed the life out of him' before taking
the ring. See for example
http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/ADeadlyCurse.htm
I hadn't come across it before. If it happened once, it probably
happened many times.
But I still maintain there is no documentary evidence to justify the
claim that ships were deliberately lured onto rocks, or that wreckers
by your definition, existed.
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net