This was particularly true for Cornwall where the rocky coastline and (sometimes) the display of false lights led many ships to disaster. The sailors were often murdered and stripped of their possessions, the ships themselves were looted for their cargoes.
Wrecking is the subject of Daphne du Maurier's novel Jamaica Inn[?].
See also: smuggling, Robert Stephen Hawker.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump