Rev Baring–Gould writes that wrecking is a thing of the past in his time.

Wrecking was another form of sea–poaching. Terrible stories of ships lured to destruction by the exhibition of false lights are told, but all belong to the past. I remember an old fellow—the last of the Cornish wreckers—who ended his days as keeper of a toll–gate. But he never would allow that he–had wilfully drawn a vessel upon the breakers. When a ship was cast up by the gale it was another matter. The dwellers on the coast could not believe that they had not a perfect right to whatever was washed ashore. Nowadays the coastguards keep so sharp a look–out after a storm that very little can be picked up. The usual course at present is for those who are early on the beach, and have not time to secure—or fear the risk of securing—something they covet, to heave the article up the cliff and lodge it there where not easily accessible. If it be observed—when the auction takes place—it is knocked down for a trifle, and the man who put it where it is discerned obtains it by a lawful claim. If it be not observed, then he fetches it at his convenience. But it is now considered too risky after a wreck to carry off anything of size found, and as the number of bidders at a sale of wreckage is not large, and they do not compete with each other keenly, things of value are got for very slender payments.