Wreckers, Mooncussers and ...Lifeguards??

[Thagarr]

As all of you know, there are many different types of pirates; corsairs, buccaneers, privateers and many other names throughout history. Each perhaps with a slightly different meaning, but the results and methods were usually all quite similar. Some were simply murderers and thieves, some were fighting for a cause they believed in, some were fighting just to be fighting, and others were simply left with no other choice. Through all their differences, one thing they almost all had in common was they mostly operated on the water. There were some however that operated almost entirely on land, and I don't mean bankers and lawyers, they are a whole different breed of scoundrel.

I am referring to Wreckers, or sometimes called Mooncussers, they were mostly scavengers who preyed on the wrecks of vessels who were driven by storms to close to a rocky coast line or reef. Some would even go out and attempt to lure ships in to their doom, careless of how many people died in the tragedy, as long as they collected their spoils. I ran across a couple of accounts, mostly legends, a while back while I was looking up some stuff on Blackbeard, but didn't really have a good reason to post about it then. Today, I have a reason! One account described the origin of the name Nags Head, located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Regarding the origin of the town's colorful name, the legend of Nags Head takes us back to days of piracy, when tales drifted ashore about the wonderful treasures traveling at sea being plundered by "rogue businessmen" like Blackbeard, that one of the original Outer Bankers got the inspiration for the equine moniker. A lantern was tied around the neck of an old gentle horse, then this old "nag" was led up and down the tallest of the sand dunes, so that the light was visible out at sea. As a ship's captain saw this gently bobbing light, it seemed to be from a ship riding at anchor in a sheltered harbor. As the Captain tried to put in to this "safe" harbor, his ship would pile up on the treacherous shoals that constantly writhed and changed shape beneath the surface. The "land pirates" made the crew walk the plank, looted and burned the hapless ship, and made away with the bounty.

So, why am I posting about this now? I recently ran across a review over at the Ventura County Star's web page for a new book by author Ken McAlpine, The book is simply called Fog. I am not familiar with his work, but he has published a couple of books in the past, Islands Apart: A Year on the Edge of Civilization and Off Season: Discovering America on Winter's Shore. The first was a personal journey through California's Channel Islands , and the second is a trip up the east coast of the United States, from Florida to Main. It is this second book that laid the foundations for Fog. During his trip Mr. McAlpine documented a lot of American stories, not the crap you read in text books, but the real stories that helped build a nation.

Fog is historical fiction set in the 1880's Cape Cod, and follows the beginnings of what would later become the United States Coast Guard, U.S. Life-Saving Service.

McAlpine sets "Fog" in 1882 Cape Cod, that southeasterly branch of Massachusetts that bravely juts out into the ornery Atlantic and then curls north, looking like a scorpion's poised tail.

The title, he said, speaks to fog's obvious role in shipwrecks but also refers to the mental fog that can blur the lines between good and evil — in everyone, especially in dire circumstances.

Much of that in "Fog" is found in the tension between the two main characters — Capt. Daniel Cole, keeper and leader of the Peaked Hill Bars lifesaving station, and Pomp, a suspected "mooncusser" who plunders shipwrecks and buries much of his ill-gotten booty in the myriad sand dunes.

Mooncussers, McAlpine said, were people who lured distressed ships toward shore with trickery and then plundered them once they wrecked on the rocky shoals or other land forms. One tactic, used by Pomp in the book, was to walk a horse along a high ridgeline on shore on a stormy night and dangle one or two lanterns from its neck, hoping the boat captain would mistake the lights as a ship docked at a safe harbor and thus turn for shore — and a rocky end.

I recently bought a copy, and though the book is set a bit later than the period most of us are interested in, it definitely appears to have a good story to tell! It may take a few days before I actually get around to reading it, but you can look for my review on the main page soon!