Wrecking & Enviroment

Nick Darke was raised on a beach in Cornwall. In the winter he would go out wrecking with his father and in the summer they would fish for mackerel and lobsters. They also had a share in a beach seine net with other local families. His father, grandfather and great grandfather had all gone to work on ships in the merchant navy so he grew up with an understanding of the sea and wind and how they worked together.

Despite this he was still amazed and delighted when he discovered that it brought strange messages and wild debris from the Americas.

Jane and Nick always went wrecking together. He concentrated on lobster tags and wood and large seeds from South America. Jane went for small seeds, lighters with writing on and natural objects. Jane is continuing to wreck the beaches of North Cornwall, often with her sons.

Nick was a strong champion of Cornish culture and communities. What he discovered through wrecking was that the coastal Cornish are part of a larger community that fringes The Atlantic Ocean. They have the same concerns and similar traditions. They turn their backs to the land and look out to sea.

Nick’s lifelong love of wrecking formed the basis for his first film, The Wrecking Season.

You can view some of the weird and wonderful things Nick found on the beach below.