My first attempt at writing a novel, a lifetime ago, it seems, was all about the wreckers of Worms Head. Worms Head is a rocky outcrop on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, not too far from where I live.
In days of old, on stormy nights, unscrupulous men would lure passing ships onto the causeway that had been covered by the tide, and the ships would be ground to pieces on the rocks. The wreckers, led by a fearsome man called “Big” Bill Williams, would murder any survivors and recover whatever cargo that washed ashore.
The work my younger self did on this tale ended up forming the backstory for a character in my recently-completed Victorian vampire novel (which may, unlike its protagonist, one day see the light of day).
The Gower Peninsula is rich in history and stories or wreckers, smuggling, piracy and heroic struggle, and is a never ending source of inspiration.
RICHARD E. ROCK 