Wicked Wrecker
One night a hurricane ravished the north coast. Just off the cliffs near Morwenstow a ship was wrecking on the rocks. Its sails were shredded and the rudder was gone, the whole ship swayed violently in the huge waves, the ship was not going to stay afloat for very much longer. A crowd of terrified sailors gathered on deck, they knew their fate. One man held the wheel, he shouted to the other men, clearly in charge, he lifted his fists and shook them at the winds. One moment he was in command of a sinking ship, the next he threw himself into the sea and rolled with the waves. The man was strong he fought the battle of his life, rippling shoulders forcing a way against the sea and toward the shore. So fierce was the sailor, he overcame the wrath of the ocean and stood tall on the beach. The sands were crowded with wreckers and people watching the spectacle of the ship floundering at the mercy of the hurricane.
The sailor strode toward the crowd and ripped the coat off an elderly woman and wrapped it over his naked torso. Next he pushed his way to where a young woman sat watching from the safety of her saddle. He grabbed the reins from the hapless Dinah Hamlyn and leaped up behind her spurring the horse into a gallop with his knees. The horse took its riders home and the sailor was warmed at the fireplace of farmer Hamlyn. He made himself at home telling the family he was from a wealthy Danish family and had spurned a titled lady to run away to sea. Dinah was instantly charmed, falling in love with the stranger and in days he proposed marriage. However their wedding was postponed by the sudden death of the farmer. Farmer Hamlyn was not yet cold in his grave before the stranger moved to take charge of the household. He and Dinah were immediately married.
This is when the mood at the farm changed, the strong, dashing stranger revealed himself to be Cruel Coppinger, captain of a gang of wreckers, smugglers, poachers and reprobates spanning the north coast. He sailed a large schooner called The Black Prince up and down the coast menacing all who came across it. There were no revenue officers or law enforcers on the north coast at that time and the local clergy were scared into submission. Cruel Coppinger did exactly what he liked, masterminding a reign of fear along the coast. Once an excise man challenged Coppinger, who chopped off the excise man’s head with a sword. Cruel Coppinger reinforced his reign of terror with this terrible act against authority. Anyone who challenged Coppinger was kidnapped and made to crew The Black Prince. Their families paid a fortune to get their loved ones home from the ship and for Coppinger the gold came rolling in.
Coppinger became so rich he bought a farm, heaping gold, pistols, guineas and ducats on the bewildered desk of a lawyer, who agreed to accept the sum in weight. He sailed up and down the coast in the schooner and hoarded all his loot in a cave. On the headland at Steeple Brink, the main tracks and bridle ways across the fields became known as Coppinger’s Tracks, these were impassable at night.
Coppinger himself rode his tracks on a wild mare, strong and fast enough to make many quick escapes. One of the clergy decided it was time to speak out against Coppinger. One day, when the clergyman was riding home on his sedentary cob horse, Coppinger appeared on his mare. The mare reared up as Coppinger hurled a whip across the hapless clergy’s shoulders. The poor man knew he could not escape, Coppinger’s mare was known to be the fastest horse in all Cornwall. There was nothing for it, he would have to ride his cob home at a sensible pace which he did with Cruel Coppinger just behind him, whipping him all the way. When they reached the clergy’s home, Coppinger shouted,
‘I have paid my tithe,’ and rode away.
One night at the farmhouse, Coppinger had been feasting, he was about to go out when he spotted a traveling tailor called Tom. Cruel Coppinger dragged the poor man into the yard, hoisted him onto the back of his mare and jumped on behind him. The two men rode together, the mare became increasingly wild as they rode through the night. The tailor kept trying to launch himself off the mare, Coppinger took off his belt and fastened it around the tailor and buckled it to his own belt holding them together. He kicked the mare on into a punishing gallop. Cruel Coppinger shouted,
‘I once told the devil I would find him a tailor and in you I have the devil’s gift.’
They rode for miles the mare never letting up on her speed. Suddenly the belt gave way and the tailor fell off into the bushes, where he was found quivering and muttering in the morning.
Coppinger and Dinah had a son who from a young age became as much a scoundrel as his father. In time Cruel Coppinger’s luck ran out and a King’s cutter watched the coast. When he had spent his last gold piece, Coppinger went to the cliffs at Gull Rock and fired his gun to alert a passing ship, he was in luck and they sent a boat out to fetch him. Dinah and her son watched from the shore, never to see Cruel Coppinger again.