THE WRECKER'S CONSCIENCE. 24-3 



Norwegian brig Bergetta, Captain Peterson, was wrecked on the Cefu-Sidau sands, in 

 Carmarthen Bay. She was bound from Barcelona for Stettin, with a cargo of wine, 

 spirits, &c., when the master, losing his reckoning, owing to a thick fog, fell into the 

 fatal error of taking the coast of Devon for that of France, and acted under that persuasion. 

 So circumstanced, a violent gale, together with the tide, drove the vessel into the Bristol 

 Channel, and she struck upon the above sands, and in the space of two or three hours 

 went to pieces. The master and crew, with great difficulty, got into the boat, and were all 

 happily saved. Notwithstanding the greatest exertions on the part of the officers of the Customs, 

 supported by several gentlemen and others, acts of plunder were committed to a considerable 

 extent. Of 266 pipes and casks of wine, &c., not above 100 were saved. Hundreds of 

 men and women were reduced to nearly a state of insensibility through intoxication. 



A scarce and curious tract, published in 1796, exists in the library of the British Museum, 

 and a few extracts from it will show the arguments by which the wreckers of the last cen- 

 tury salved their consciences. It is supposed to be a dialogue between one Richard Sparkes, a 

 chandler by trade, but a professional wrecker also, and John Trueman, " an honest taylor." 



ci ' Good news ! good news, neighbour ! ' said Richard Sparkes, the chandler, as he 

 entered a shop where John Trueman, an honest taylor, was at work. ' The vessel which 

 has been these three hours fighting with the surge and winds for the harbour has at 

 last bulged. It is a trader from Amsterdam, they say, and faith ! two thumping casks 

 were floating before I left the beach. Rare sport, Master Trueman, rare sport, let me 

 tell you ! A good blustering wind and a high surf is no bad thing for a seaport/ 



" Honest Trueman, who had not been long an inhabitant of the place, and was quite 

 unacquainted with this language which, to the disgrace of humanity, is too often used 

 by the unfeeling 1 on such occasions in seaport towns suspended his work, and listened 

 to this harangue with too much surprise to interrupt it. At length, said he, ' Do you call 

 this rare sport ? Do you call this good news ? ' 



" SPAIIKES. ' To be sure I do. I mean to be out all night ; the tide will return in about 

 three hours, and I warrant it will bring us something worth looking after. But mayhap, 

 as you are a new-comer, Master Trueman, you do not know the go at these seasons, so 

 I will tell you. You must know that when a vessel strikes it is catch as catch can 

 for her lading : one has as good a right as another, and he is the luckiest who can get most. 

 We call it going a wrecking ; and let me tell you it is no bad business. There is my 

 neighbour Perkins, the pilot, got the Lord knows what by the smuggling cutter that was 

 "wrecked about three leagues from hence two months ago. Ay, cask upon cask of the 

 best French brandy, and tea, and I cannot tell you what he got; but he has held 

 his head pretty high ever since, for, as good luck would have it, she struck upon a 

 shoal of rock where the Custom-house officers would not venture, so Perkins and a few 

 more knowing ones had it all to themselves. As I told you before, Master Trueman, this 

 .going a wrecking is no bad business, so look about you/ ' 



Trueman upbraids the first speaker with dishonesty and want of humanity. 



" ' Humanity/ says Sparkes, ' odds my life ! neighbour, there's not a more tender- 

 hearted fellow alive. Many is the life my boat, when I was in the fishing trade, has saved 

 from pure good-will; but as to the matter of the wrecking, every man must take care of 



