Wreckers

Wreckers were individuals and/or groups of people who, living on a particularly rocky (or otherwise very dangerous) coast, used misleading fires and other tricks to intentionally lure passing vessels on dark nights into thinking that a safe haven awaited them, rather than the inevitable shipwrecking that actually occurred. The wreckers would then board any wrecks and loot the disabled ships of anything of value, while making sure that everyone who had been aboard was dead - even if that meant actually killing, out of hand, any surviving passengers or crew.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 18, US TPB p.614
Slightly more benign wreckers were those people who, living on naturally dangerous coastlines, simply let nature take its course, and then helped themselves to the contents of any ships they found wrecked along their shores. These wreckers might, or might not, kill (or sell into slavery) any survivors. Dangerous waters were often the hunting ground for both wreckers and pirates (who might, in fact, be the same people).
There were a number of particularly well-known "wreckers' coasts" - e.g., the "Wreckers' Coast" of eastern Assail and the coasts of the Confederacy of Free Cities, which were located along the southern coastline of Genabackis.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 19, US HC p.506Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 1, US HC p.33Assail (novel), Chapter 1, US HC p.42
==In Toll the Hounds==
An example of the worst kind of wreckers was the entire population of the village of 'Reach of Woe' (who made a living at it), a community at which the Trygalle Trade Guild equipage of Master Quell (transporting the Trell, Mappo Runt, from Darujhistan, Genabackis, to the continent of Lether) made one of its usual dramatic arrivals - fortunately at the top of the cliffs there, rather than at their base, thus avoiding the villagers' normal inclination to prey on wrecks.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 16, US TPB p.539-543
==In The Wurms of Blearmouth==
Below the town of Spendrugle of Blearmouth - near ElingarthThe Wurms of Blearmouth, Sections 1 and 2 - was a beach ringed by high ragged cliffs.The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 3 Offshore lay a deadly reef known on charts as "Gravewater" and called "Sunrise Surprise" by locals. It was a natural Wrecker's Coast and the townspeople behaved as did all the worst wreckers.The Wurms of Blearmouth, Sections 5 and 40
==Notes and references==
Category:Females
Category:Males
Category:Pirates