Sublime

After the pirates, the next group of entrepreneurs to come along was the wreckers—or gentleman pirates, depending on one’s point of view. These wreckers built observation towers on land from which they kept a close eye on the outlying shallow reefs, especially during storms. When they spotted a ship that had run aground, they sped to the scene, oft

the wrecking business was lucrative, so much so that it was not unknown for a captain to arrange a convenient wreck in advance. Once the cargo had been claimed and sold, the proceeds would be divided between the captain and the wreckers, with the owners left to fight it out with insurers, if they had any.

We prowled the auction sites, craigslist up the east coast, then across the gulf coast, then large cities up and down the Mississippi River and Tombigbee internal waterway system, Chicago Nautical Donations, Deltaville Maritime Museum (field of Dreams), Cooper Specialty Salvage, eBay, Certified Sales and the other auction outlets. After a week we w