General Chat

Hi all, Rest assured Karen, there are some of us here in Devon, that won't be making the journey! lol Our consciences wouldn't let us! :-) Utterly disgusted, and I hope they lose out eventually. The thieves, that is. :-(

Looters disgust me as well Karen,they have no shame. Mostly though I always feel so sorry for the seabirds. On news yesterday birds being washed and sponged to rid them of all the oil,they were scared and really stressed out,wildlife always suffer when ships go down. Mau

Disgusting . It makes me cringe. I see it as theft, no matter what salvage laws or understandings there are. To me it is theft. All that stuff does actually belong to someone, and not those who have found it washed up on a beach. Having recently collected my cargo which was shipped from the Middle East in December, I'd hate to think of that getting 'lost at sea'....what an awful thought it brings to mind of people helping themselves to all my personal items and picking through what they like and don't like, tossing aside anything which they don't fancy nicking. I couldn't believe my ears this morning, listening to GWR radio, when Bush & Troy were talking about it, having a good laugh and actually encouraging people to go on down to Devon and see what they could scavenge. Have they no shame?!! Lord, what are we like in this world? Disgusted of the desert!!

In the mail it said that some had crossed 2 counties to get there. Yes whoever said stuff had to be returned is correct. The forms should be filled in and handed to police then if and when the owners get in touch the stuff should be returned. funny traditions we have in this country haven't we. And they don't see it as stealing either. I wonder what would be the attitude if one of them dropped their wallet on that beach and somebody picked it up and didn't return it?? Ann Glos

Thanks for that, Joan, it's a totally different meaning to the word. isn't it? I have always imagined vultures, or buzzards, waiting to swoop. From now on I shall see instead, a kindly bin collector, just doing his job:-) The others I will call what OC has said...Looters.. BC XX

Looting is the word that comes to mind... OC

I find it quite nauseating. Even the word 'scavengers' has a horrible ring to it. I could understand it if people were starving or desperately in need, but not this. BC

Ive heard that one swedish woman has lost everything she owned,thats just awful.

On the radio they said there is already stuff on e-bay from the wreck !!!!!!!!!!! Lin x

I have this vision of every car boot in the land tomorrow selling food and other stuff.....eeeuuurgh. Many of those people were not locals, judging by their accents, and looked like professional scavengers to me. OC

I believe that the law of salvage is that you hand the items back to the legal owners via the Receiver for Wrecks and in return are compensated for your efforts. What is going on down there is simple theft of property belonging to others.

I, too, think it is diagraceful. Tina x

This really makes me cringe. Amazing how people behave in some situations. The word primal comes to mind.

l'm sure no one will have a prob selling the stuff they have gathered - either on ebay or to friends. The barrells (l think) were empty or so they said on breakie TV this morning. Don't think l personally would/could do that, l'd be too scared that someone would find me:o((( The mess is awful and yes they should all be made to go back and clean up - their faces are on the news so they know who they are!! jude sarf wales:o)

The goods still belong to the owners, whether they are washed up on the beach, or still in the stricken ship. People may 'salvage' them but are legally required to fill in a form and keep them until (or if) they are reunited with the owner. This is all detailed on BBC website. Personally I don't mind people taking what's there - it has to be cleaned up anyway - but don't agree with deliberately breaking open containers or getting in the way of official salvage operations. Perhaps these people may like to come back when all the 'interesting' stuff has gone and help clean up the mess caused by the pollutants? Also, how is anyone going to sell a motorbike - regardless of whether or not its been in the water, they have no proof of ownership!

Apparently it was legal at first. people are 'allowed' to take salvage like that as long as they have a form from the police filled in to say they have taken it. But now it is not legal because the insurance company have 'reclaimed' it so it belongs to them. So anyone taking stuff now is breaking the law. The reason it should be declared of course is that duty should be paid on it. However, places on the coast have always abided by the law of slavage. i agree that it is not nice that they are going through private belongings though. Ann Glos

yeah I agree Roxanne-Not like people need a BMW bike-and the vino. You can understand doing it for food and stuff. I sure wouldn';t mind a barrell of that vino though.lol. catherine xx

Hi Debs,Yeah,Your right about that,you can see the humour in it:-)) Lorraine, Thats terrible, if their taking others personal property that is 100% theft.

Hi Catherine,I heard that too,he did actually report it first so I can accept that. I also heard about the rule of the sea thing too,but in this day and age it seems a bit much,dont you think?

To be honest if i lived down there id be there with my trolley well loaded by now esp the nappies lol The law of the sea says that what ever is washed up by the tide is there for all to have - scavengers law i think its known as - if you pop over to e bay you can see no end of stuff on there already. The only part that is think is wrong is where they are going through crates of peoples personal belongings. There are crates of stuff that people have packaged up for sending home - obviously they are returning to england from aboard. Think that is a step too far.