I remember that incident well. It brought to the public's attention the rather archaic sounding
'Receiver of Wreck'.
One aspect that sticks in my mind was that of a family who had sent a crate of their household possessions from Sweden to Cape Town and saw it being looted in TV news reports.
Quote:
A woman whose belongings were looted after they were washed on to a beach from a grounded container ship today pleaded for their return.
Anita Bokdal, 60, lost around £20,000 worth of property including family heirlooms after the 62,000-tonne Napoli was disabled in a severe storm and deliberately run aground off the coast of Devon.
Mrs Bokdal's crate, from which only a fraction of her goods have been recovered, was marked Anita and Jak Bokdal, and was being taken from Sweden to South Africa.
Her possessions came from one of more than 50 containers washed up on the National Trust-owned Branscombe beach, part of the area's World Heritage coast.
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Quote:
Today Mrs Bokdal recalled seeing her property being taken from her crate on television as she sat at home thousands of miles away in South Africa.
Visiting the beach for the first time at the invitation of East Devon council, Mrs Bokdal appealed to those who may still have her possessions to return them.
She said she had been "shocked" by what she had witnessed on TV as the drama had unfolded and claimed that the looters had acted "like a lot of savages". "I beg them to give it back," she said. "I feel very sad."
Mrs Bokdal, who has a home near Stockholm and a vineyard in South Africa, said she had come to the UK in a last attempt to track down her property.
She said she had "about 2%" of the goods back, including coffee cups and plates, a carpet and some paintings.
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The Guardian
Whatever happened to honesty and plain human decency?