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They announced on the radio this morning that Worthing beach was closed due to timber from the sunken cargo ship Ice Prince washing up on the shore. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7198735.stm
Naturally I toddled down there with hundreds of other locals to see what all the fuss was about. Not often we get this sort of excitement on a dull grey Sunday in the middle of winter so I took a few photos to record it for posterity. The beach was only actually closed around the area of the pier where the contractors were working to clear up the mess. It looked to me that they were fighting a losing battle.
     

This is the scene as far as the eye can see. Great bundles of planks of all sizes are being washed up for miles along the Sussex coastline from Selsey Bill to Shoreham & possibly as far as Beachy Head.











     
This is only the start of it as there's 2,000 tonnes of the stuff out there somewhere.

Very handy considering gas bills have just gone up 15%

Ideal time to build a gardenshed me thinks...  ;D

Dam you, Receiver of Wrecks. I was thinking of building a new shed  >:(  ;D

That's a lot of wood, it looks good quality too...  :(

Thanks for sharing Doug, nice to see something different in this forum.

Good afternoon all...

Looks to me like they would rather destroy the lumber than let the public have any of it.
How foolish and arrogant.

Thanks for the post Doug.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Ideal time to build a gardenshed me thinks...  ;D

I was thinking more along the lines of a house...

I thought officers got better housing than lower-life

Looks to me like they would rather destroy the lumber than let the public have any of it.
How foolish and arrogant.

Thanks for the post Doug.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

My thoughts exactly Doug. If they had announced it was free for collection instead of closing the beach it would be cleared in no time without the expense of hiring the contractors.

However, this is smuggler country & the locals are not easily deterred by the Revenue Men.

PS. Don't tell anyone but tobacco has been found hidden in some of those bundles. Unfortunately the seawater has ruined it.

Looks to me like they would rather destroy the lumber than let the public have any of it.
How foolish and arrogant.

My thoughts exactly Doug. If they had announced it was free for collection instead of closing the beach it would be cleared in no time without the expense of hiring the contractors.

Or could this be the reason...

     

Washed up timber to be sold off

Hundred of tonnes of timber washed ashore after a cargo ship sank off the Dorset coast is to be sold off.

Worthing beach has been shut to allow heavy machinery to remove the timber which has come ashore from the Greek-registered Ice Prince.

The ship went about 26 miles (42km) off the coast after a storm.

Wendy Knight, from Worthing Borough Council, said its owners had appointed contractors to find a market for the timber which would then be sold.

Worthing Borough Council said barriers and cordons were being erected along the beach, with "public safety the key element".

People are nicking it and loading it into vans and we are advising against that
Mark Clark, MCA

Or could this be the reason...

     

Washed up timber to be sold off

Hundred of tonnes of timber washed ashore after a cargo ship sank off the Dorset coast is to be sold off.

Worthing beach has been shut to allow heavy machinery to remove the timber which has come ashore from the Greek-registered Ice Prince.

Undoubtedly but I am not the only one to think it won't be much use for anything by the time those contractors have finished with it.

I'm not sure if this wood will be destroyed. I know a compagny in Belgium that buys these lots of wood, dries and treats them to be sold again. And if that's the case, I don't think the owner of the wood would like it if his products were given away for free...

Wow, & to think that the sailors were rescued down my end of the coast Doug, then the ship drifted for a wee while before sinking, & the timber has ended up at your end of the channel, I couldn't post it to you by Royal Mail as quick as that.

I'm not sure if this wood will be destroyed. I know a compagny in Belgium that buys these lots of wood, dries and treats them to be sold again. And if that's the case, I don't think the owner of the wood would like it if his products were given away for free...

Most of the wood I've seen is in good condition when it's washed ashore. A lot of it was still neatly bundled when I went down there yesterday.

It's a different story after the contractor's machines have finished with it. Check out my close-up of the bucket grab on the machine. It's being smashed to pieces. It will be full tide about now so anything not recovered will be washed out to sea again only to be dashed ashore somewhere further along the coast. At the rate they're going it will take weeks to clear up & the timber will only be useful for making chipboard, matches or firewood.

They seem to have changed the law as not long ago this would have been classed as flotsam & subject to a reward for recovery if claimed by the original owner. It is also a hazard to shipping & small boats, surfers etc. so the sooner it's cleared up the better.

The third pic shows why they'd rather the public stay away... they know that nowadays, rather than sensibly try to haul the wood away, folks will just  try to play on the lumber piles, hurt themselves, and try to sue whatever agency manages the beach... "Hey, let's go clambering on huge piles of unstable lumber on the beach!"



You can bet that if this had occurred in some "backward" place, the locals would have cleared off every stick before the guy got there to post the sign.

Wow, talk about the ultimate splinter!!!

It almost looks like some of the lumber ia a rough cut of Knotty Pine which is great for interior walls and expensive also!!