The Wreckers

by Iain Lawrence

English 3202

Introduction
There was once a village bred by evil.
On the barren coast of Cornwall, England, lived a community who
prayed for shipwrecks, a community who lured storm-tossed ships to
crash upon the sharp rocks of their shore.
They fed and clothed themselves with the loot salvaged from the
wreckage; dead sailors' tools and trinkets became decorations for
their homes.
Most never questioned their murderous way of life.
Then, upon that pirates' shore crashed the ship The Isle of Skye.
And the youngest of its crew members, 14-year-old John Spencer,
survived the wreck.
The time is 1799 and the Skye is lured onto the rocky coast by the
people of Cornwall.
John does not know who to trust.

Cornwall, England

Isle of Skye wrecks in this bay

Chapter 1 The Wreck

The Isle of Skye wrecks on the Tombstones
John Spencer
14 year old boy on his first voyage
Mr. Spencer
Johns father; orders Stafford to head for shore
Captain Stafford
Uneasy from the start of the voyage; does not want to take the
ship into shore
Cridge
the first mate
In the eerie glow of a burning dawn I saw figures up along the
clifftop, and a line of land that almost ringed our little ship. (p.8)

Chapter 2 A Drowning
John survives the wreck but runs for his life
Caleb Stratton and his men
Kill Cridge crush his head

John witnesses the murder

Runs away

John is discovered and is hunted by the men

Stumps
saves John from the men
One noise and youre done for, said this voice like a rusted hinge.
(p.18)

Chapter 3 The Legless Man

Stumps believes the ships cargo is gold
John sees his fathers ring on Stumps
Caleb discovers John with Stumps
plans to kill John

Tommy Colwyn
Only a boy killed by Caleb

Spots wants to let John go

Caleb reminds the men of the law
The wreck must be dead

Simon Mawgan
Rescues John

Remember this,If you put the wreckmen on me, your

father will rot where he lies.

Chapter 4 Galilee
Simons house is richly furnished from the wrecks

On the way to Simons house, they meet Parson Tweed

Warns Simon to keep John close
John feels something sinister and sly about him

Simon questions John about the Isle of Skye

The voyage began in Spain
Cargo was wine
Simon is suspicious that the cargo was loaded at night

John agues that Caleb used false lights to wreck the ship
Mary makes starry- gaze pie for Eli

I was stung by the way that even Mary could talk, with
such nonchalance, of what came from the drowning of
sailors. (p.40)

Chapter 5 A Row of Bodies

John learns about the wreckers

Mary gives John Peters clothes

Peter is Simons dead son
John and Mary go riding and he confides in her
believes his father is alive and is somewhere in the village
Mary tells John why the mines of Pendennis closed
when a wreck occurred, the men left the mines to take everything from
the wreck.
Even women and children of the village tracked a ship for days
The law of a wreck: anything that came from a wreck was free for
salvage, but only if there were no survivors.
Simon has the right of wreck if it comes ashore in St. Elmos Bay
between Wrinkle Head and Northground
John learns that Tommy Colwyn was a wrecker and was hanged because
he wouldnt give the names of the wreckers
So it was the law, John, that made the devils work of wrecking. (p. 48)

Chapter 6 The Haunted Cove

John and Mary get to know each other

Mary tells how she saw Caleb use false beacons when she was a child

Simon argued with Caleb

Mary tells about the corpse lights pale blue lights that move across the cliffs and beach
People of the village run away when they see them

Mary shows John her secret garden

He came home the next morning bloodied, bruised and wet

Told Mary he tried to stop them
Went down to the beach and took up an axe
That was the night Stumps lost his legs
Simon told Mary he made sure that was the last time they used the lights

But John argues they still do

Mary doesnt believe him and says Simon gets the salvage because of the law and
John was saved by her uncle
John and Mary ride to Coffee Cove

The women and children were sent home

For each wreck she plants a flower

Mary believes Caleb is not smart enough to be the leader

But John secretly suspects Simon
The next time a ship wrecks on the Tombstones, Im going to swim out to itIll tie myself to the
mast. And if they want the wreck, theyll have to to kill me. (p.58)

Chapter 7 The Evil Eye

John and Mary go riding on the Moors

John sees the widow

People believe shes a witch

She puts the evil eye on John word of John has spread
Mary tells John the Widows brother and husband drowned

John and Mary race back to the house

John meets Simon in the stable

Simon demands to know where they went

John feels hes treated like a prisoner, but Simon claims he is only concerned for his safety
Eli tries to communicate with John

Simon warns John and Mary about racing on the moors

He draws a running man

John thinks Eli is telling him to run away

the sinkholes are dangerous

Simon reveals that Mary told him that Johns father is alive
Mary says Simon could help
Simon presses John about the cargo of wine

Says John is a liar

And I still didnt know whether to trust him or not. He seemed quite harmless, yet every man in
Pendennis obeyed his commands. (p.72)

Chapter 8 The Mystery of the Barrels

Eli tries to tell John something

John tells Simon about the voyage

Simon believes the barrels had false bottoms to carry gold or diamonds
John flatly denies this claim
Simon says he doesnt care for the gold but he wreckmen are talking about it.

Says Caleb will kill his father if he finds him

Stumps will probably sell him for a reward after he finds the gold
Stumps has disappeared
Simon believes he is hiding

Mary and John go outside

They anchored at night in a cove

John stayed on the ship
He was sent to the foretop with hooded lanterns
Told to show the light when given the word
John said he was suspicious
Johns father left the ship for about an hour
They brought back barrels, loaded them on the ship and left

John tells Mary about Elis drawing

Mary explains it is the man on the tomb
John learns that Eli doesnt take from wrecks and refuses to live in the main house
Mary takes John to the tomb ( the cromlech) on the moors
Simon says there is a curse on the tomb whoever looks in will die in a day.

John and Mary hear two gunshots which means theres a ship in the bay

Chapter 9 A Ship Embayed

John and Mary go to the cromlech
kram-lek Welsh for bent stone; a circle of stones

John and Mary hear someone go into the cromlech

John goes inside and finds a beacon ( lantern )
John thinks Simon planted the false light
Mary refuses to believe her uncle would do such a thing
A ship is off shore and the people of Pendennis pray that it wrecks
John tells Mary he is going into Pendennis while it is empty
A good time to search for his father
Sometimes this last for days, said Mary. the people wander back and
forthsleep herethere ednt a one of them wholl go away and miss the
chance to be first at a wreck. (p.95)

Chapter 10 Wrapped in Chains

John finds his father

John and Mary go to the village

John whistles a tune his father would recognize
John hears a scratching sound while he and Mary near the chandlery
once a brewery - a passageway to the sea
John finds his father chained to a wet brick wall
Stumps comes at dawn and dark to move him so he wont drown, for now

Shaken, I lowered the trap. The door to the passageway locked with a
simple crossbar. As soon as it opened, Mary was there
Wheres your fatherhes wrapped in chainswe have to come back.
(p.108)

Chapter 11 A Gargoyle Come to Life

John and Stumps fight
Parson Tweed frightens John and Mary as they leave the
passageway
He asks if John found his father
John says no because he does not trust him
John and Mary go to the blockhouse where Stumps lives
John finds a set of keys and returns to his father, but the keys do not
work
Mary goes ahead while John pauses to think
Stumps arrives and chases John across the rooftops of he brewery
Stumps came hurling up onto the roof behind mehe looked like a
gargoyle come to life. ( p. 117-118)

Chapter 12 A Stone for a Heart

John is still in danger

John struggles to get away from Stumps

Mary arrives with Parson Tweed who kills Stumps
John keeps quiet about his father.
After the Parson leaves, Mary tells John she does not believe the Parson is the puppet master
behind the wreckers, but John will not trust him.
John and Mary return to the cliff out of sight of the widow and the villagers who keep a watch over
the ship that is closer to shore
At dawn, Uncle Simon appears on the coastal road
The Widow performs a chant as the ship moves closer to shore
But the ship clears the rocks on Wrinkle Head
Caleb Stratton is furious and the Widow blames the escape on Johns presence
Caleb wants to find John to kill him.
Caleb threatens Simon that he might tell Mary the truth about her father and what happened one
night on the Tombstones
Simon fights with Caleb and warns him that he will deal with John
Mary and John rush to return to Galilee before Simon
Along the cliff, the wreckers crouched on the ground. They put their hands on the earth; they
lowered their heads and hunched their shoulders. And above them the Widow sang. She
screeched like a flock of gulls. (p.127)

Chapter 13 Four Together

Mary tells John about the night her parents died

John and Mary go to the farm in Galilee

They hear a scream and can not find Eli
They search the house and go into Simons room
John sees a painting of Peter
Mary tells John about the night her parents, Simons wife and his son Peter died she
was a baby

They had gone to London and returned early on the ship The Rose of Sharon
The ship was embayed and was wrecked on the Tombstones with false beacons
Simon found his son and wife washed up with their arms around each other
Marys parents washed ashore a few days later

Simon arrives and John tells him they heard the scream from the cromlech and Simon
is angry
They see blood on Simons hands
Simon says he found Eli dead in the stable with a pitchfork through him
Mary thinks Simon killed him
Simon blames John
Mary and John find Eli alive in the stable
Simon carries Eli to Marys bed in the house
Mary has to nurse Eli to save his life
Theres not a man in Pendennis who would come out here to help him. The nursing would be
Marys task alone. (p.141)

Chapter 14 A Terrifying Decision

John wants to save his father
Mary and John care for Eli
Simon tells John he is leaving on the ship that stops at Polruan the
next day and warns him not to run off
John struggles with the idea of leaving his father in Pendennis
He doesnt trust Simon to get him safely away
John decides to make a final attempt to rescue his father after
Simon goes to bed
He has to travel over the moor at night to avoid Caleb
When Simon falls asleep, John sneaks away
I thought of my father chained to the tunnel wall, of the rats that
gnawed at his feet. (p.146)

Chapter 15 Across the Moor

John tries to free his father
John takes Marys pony and heads across the moor toward the
village
The horse falls into a mine shaft
John goes on to Pendennis
Two gunshots are heard to signal another ship in the bay
John tries to free his father but his only tool, the chisel is useless
Johns father tells him to leave

I sat back against the wall. Father was right; it couldnt be done.
(p.158)

Chapter 16 A Dead Man Rises

John learns the truth about the cargo

Mary arrives with Parson Tweed to help John free his father
Once Johns father is free, Parson Tweed holds them at gunpoint
He admits that he stabbed Eli
He wants the gold in exchange for John
John attacks the Parson
The gun fires and John falls into the water below
He lands on the skiff and Stumps rises to the surface
Parson tweed grabs Mary and fires again at John
Johns father attacks the Parson from behind
They throw the Parson into the skiff with Stumps and shove the boat out to
sea where it disappears
Johns father explains that the Spaniards cheated them
They did not know the barrels had false bottoms filled with sawdust

John and his father take Marys horse to ride to Polruan

Evil men will always see evil in others

Chapter 17 False Beacons

John tries to save the ship from the wreckers

John hears three shots which means a ship is coming to shore

He and his father decide to turn back
They see the dead Stumps and the Parson on the sea
John finds Simon in the cliffs with a lantern and believs he is a wrecker
When John smashes the lantern, Simon tells him that he is trying to save
the ship

The lantern glass is blue

Simon is the corpse light
People run away when they see the corpse lights
He didnt tell anyone

Simon admits he wrecked The Rose of Sharon

The wreckers have lit the beacons to wreck the ship
They see Stumps and think hes come back from the dead
I could smell the fumes of the lanterns; I saw the shadowed forms of the
men who tended them, two in capes beside the pony, one more below. (p.182)

Chapter 18 Men of Fire

John saves the ship

John tries to stop Caleb and his men

Then they see the corpse lights
A keg of oil spills when Caleb fires at John
The oil spills over Jeremy Haines and John ignites the oil which rapidly
spreads including Caleb
Jeremy and Caleb fall into the sea
The ship changes course
John and his father spend the night at Simons house
Simon says there will be no more wrecking
Mary learns that Simon was the corpse lights

John future is in sailing according to his father

John and his father return to London and they never see Mary and Simon
again.
Never again will a sailor look up from a storm-tossed deck and see the false beacons
gutter and burn. The wreckers only sit and wait. But on the darkest, wildest nights or so
the story goes the corpse lights still walk on the beach at the Tombstones. (p.191)

Question
It can be said that a hero is someone who does the right thing even when they are scared. Using specific examples
from the book, show how this definition of a hero applies to John or Mary.
Model Answer:
It can be said that a hero is someone who does the right thing even when they are scared. In the novel, The
Wreckers by Iain Lawrence, the major character John is a hero. John is a hero when he tries to save his father and
when he risks his life to stop the wreckers.
From the beginning of the novel, John is a hero when he tries to save his father. When Stumps hints that
Johns father is alive, John knows he has to keep quiet about his father because he does not know who to trust. He
eventually trusts Mary and when they find where Stumps has hidden Johns father, they risk their lives to rescue him.
John has to fight off Stumps who is willing to kill John and his father for the sake of gold. John has to free his father
from the chains so that he wont drown. John does not give up trying to save his father. When all the villagers are at
the cliffs waiting for a ship to wreck, John makes a last attempt to save his father. After Parson Tweed helps John fee
his father, John almost loses his life when the Parson tries to shoot him. But luckily Johns father kills the Parson. John
is a hero because he never gave up trying to rescue his father even though he was in danger.
John is also a hero when he tries to stop the wreckers. Even though he and his father are close to freedom,
John feels he has to return to the cliffs to save the ship in the bay. He confronts Simon on the cliffs thinking that Simon
is using false lights to guide the ship into the bay. But when he learns that Simon is only trying save the ship, he
realizes he has to do something to stop Caleb and his men. He puts himself in danger when he confronts Caleb and his
men who have lit the beacon fires to lead the ship into the bay to crash upon the rocks. Caleb will not hesitate to kill
John if he gets in his way. But he sets the men on fire when their fuel is spilled. Caleb and Jeremy are sent to their
deaths when they are caught on fire. John was willing to risk his life so that he could save a ship load of men. He is
definitely a hero for saving so many lives and stopping the wrecking for good.
John is a hero because even though he was in scary situations, he risked his life to do the right thing. He
saved his father and stopped the wreckers who had been killing lots of innocent people for years.

Question

Suspense was used a great deal in this novel. In your own words, define
suspense and give two examples of suspense from the novel and explain
how each creates suspense for the reader.

Suspense the feeling of uncertainty about an outcome

Examples:

The reader does not know if Simon is a wrecker

John does not know if he can rescue his father
Parson Tweed is a suspicious character and John cant trust him
John is unsure if Stumps will catch him trying to rescue his father
No one knows if the corpse lights are real or ghosts.

Question

The author of this book has made John a character that we can
sympathize with or feel bad for. Explain two ways that the author has
made John a sympathetic character (someone you would root for!).
1.

John is worried that his father will die and he is determined to save him
1.

2.
3.
4.

John refuses to leave Pendennis without him

John worries about Mary who wants to stop the wreckers by swimming out to
the next ship that comes into the bay
John can not trust anyone he is a stranger in Pendennis
Caleb Stratton wants to kill him, but Simon protects John