PS Opinion Piece

Quite rightly, salvers had been appointed to try and gather up from the UK’s southern beaches as much of the timber cargo from the

Ice Princess

as possible. Unfortunately, there are a large number of UK inhabitants who quite simply view the arrival of large bunches of timber on their shores as nothing short of a windfall. TV clips confirmed this with one party talking of building a new garden shed, another of refurbishing his garden deck and many other individuals with similar aspirations. Undoubtedly, the cover of darkness has led to some clandestine activities that will put a dent in the volume of what can be salvaged. It is a remarkable thing to try and sum up but undoubtedly there is something inherent to a large number of UK citizens that live by its shores which compel them to think that what is washed up by mother nature is rightfully theirs. Hence of course the earlier somewhat bizarre scenes with the

MSC Napoli

when individuals were seen struggling to push BMW motorbikes and other large items up the beach and off to their respective homes!

Technically, it is wrong. At another level though, it is almost as if some tradition is being maintained – a sort of seaborne recycling, which albeit technically wrong does owe itself to mans’ guile and ingenuity. An echo, perhaps, of the romantic view of the wreckers who in the days of sail unfortunately operated so effectively on the coast of Cornwall.

Ultimately of course, actions which break the law and result in profit from another party’s serious misfortune cannot be condoned. It remains, however, a fact that this compulsion of the UK public to acquire when the sea delivers is a most interesting phenomenon to view. Is it a characteristic of an island people? Is it an echo of a mentality from days gone by? Whatever it is, as MSC Napoli and the Ice Princess have demonstrated it is somewhat (dare I say amusingly) irrepressible!