title: Cornish Wrecking, 1700-1860: Reality and Popular Myth
author:  Cathryn J. Pearce 
description: A painstaking, well-considered and persuasively argued account of wrecking that shatters the well-established image of the wreckers, and that engages with some of the central issues of crime and the law in Hanoverian and early Victorian England. (...) Pearce's book constitutes a significant addition to knowledge and understanding in a variety of areas that are of considerable interest to contemporary students of history. JOURNAL FOR MARITIME RESEARCH Cathryn Pearce has done a masterly job in challenging the traditional stereotype of the Cornish wrecker. ... Cornish Wrecking is full of interesting and well-chosen anecdotes, matching the violent with the humane. (...) This book can be warmly recommended. THE LOCAL HISTORIAN This pioneering work is helpful for legal and administrative historians, suggestive for social and literary historians, and necessary for maritime historians. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY Maritime historian Cathryn Pearce has produced by far the best - in fact the only - authoritative study of wrecking in Cornwall. www.smuggling.co.uk Provides one of the most detailed explanations of the Law and Rights of Wreck that I have read in any non-legal work, and written in clear and concise language. (...) This book really is an excellent piece of research on a subject which is more often told on the basis of myth. SOUTH WEST SOUNDINGS Must surely be the definitive study of the subject. (...) Well-researched, well-written and well-presented, Cornish Wrecking is a model study of a controversial practice in Cornish - and British - history which continues to this day. CORNISH BANNER A highly readable and intriguing examination of an often misunderstood subject. PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS
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  Chapter 1
  
  Cornwall
  
  October 1818
  
  "C'mon, me laddies. What'm I bid fer this fine bit o' flesh?"
  
  "'Alf a crown!"
  
  Raucous laughter almost drowned out the auctioneer's rude response to the
  opening bid. James
  
  Gordon Harkness, fifth Baron Harkness, leaned against the rough granite wall
  of the village
  
  apothecary shop just off Gunnisloe market square. The lane and its shops were
  deserted; most of the
  
  villagers and market-day travelers had gathered in the square to watch the
  livestock auction.
  
  James nibbled on the last bit of savory meat pie as his servant loaded the
  carriage boot with the
  
  day's purchases: several bolts of local wool, a few hammered copper cook pots,
  two large bags of seed,
  
  a brace of pheasant, a basket of smoked fish, and three cases of wine.
  
  "Two pounds!"
  
  James licked the pastry crumbs from his long fingers as he listened to the
  auction taking place around
  
  the corner. The voices of auctioneer and bidders rang clearly in the crisp air
  of early au