BRITAIN:Dozens of scavengers swarmed across a beach in south Devon yesterday, carrying off barrels of wine, car parts, clothes and, in a few cases, apparently perfect BMW motorcycles.
The booty had spilled from containers that slid off the stricken ship the Napoli, which was forced to beach on the Devon coast. The containers then drifted ashore at Branscombe and burst open.
England's southern coast around Cornwall and Devon were notorious blackspots for shipwrecks in the 17th and 18th centuries and also notorious for those who scavenged from the wreckage.
Yesterday the area seemed to have reverted to type. One historian said the extraordinary scenes on the beach were reminiscent of the days when Branscombe was a notorious landing place for smuggled goods.
Locals scoured the shingle beach and rummaged in half-open containers. Many carried off shoes, steering wheels, carpets, beauty cream and even motorbikes, apparently ignoring warnings that some of the containers might contain hazardous chemicals.
Police warned that those who took away goods and failed to report they had done so were committing a criminal offence. They closed Branscombe to visitor traffic, as well as roads leading to the beach, in an attempt to stem the flood of beachcombers.
Branscombe police beat manager PC Steve Speariett said: "A couple of hundred people have been on the beach today, taking things away, and there were around the same number last night. Around 50 BMW motorbikes were carried off the beach last night."
Mark Clark, of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), said up to 40 containers had come ashore. "We are concerned about the mass hysteria being shown by people ripping everything they can out of containers. You do not know what is in the containers. We just want people to understand some of the risks they are running."
Meanwhile, preparations to pump up to 3,500 tonnes of fuel oil from the ship will resume tomorrow after engineers were delayed by technical difficulties. The treacle-like oil on board the 62,000-tonne Napoli will have to be heated before it can be run down lines into waiting vessels. The operation to remove the oil is the first step in securing the ship, which lies on a sandbar off Sidmouth.
Fears remain over the environmental impact of the containers and up to 200 tonnes of oil from the vessel's engine room on the world heritage coastline.
Up to 600 seabirds had been affected by a five-mile oil slick between Chesil beach and Portland Bill. More than 80 of those birds, mainly guillemots, were rescued by the RSPCA and taken to a wildlife centre in Somerset. People used improvised stretchers to carry away hauls of shoes, steering wheels and exhaust pipes from the pebble beach.
One gang brought a small tractor on to the beach and used it to carry away a new BMW motorbike, one of 15 police said were taken. Part of a car and the chassis and wheels of a tractor could be seen in the surf, surrounded by cardboard debris.
One local woman on the beach salvaged carpets for the home she is decorating. "I am going to declare them," said the woman, who did not want to be named. "People should be able to be allowed to take what they like. It is clearing up the beach, and it is part of the beach culture."
Sophia Exelby, of the MCA, who is the official "receiver of wreck", said scavengers who fail to report any goods could be fined up to £2,500 (about €3,750). "The legal position is that anything which is washed ashore is 'wreck' and that still belongs to the wreck owner. In the first instance they are arranging their own recovery operation and are requesting that people stay away.
"If anybody has already made recoveries from the wreck they are obliged by law to report to the recoverer of wreck. Failing to do so is a criminal offence, effectively they are stealing from the owners."