It might not have made the international news yet, but here in the UK we've had a recent "ship wreck" which has distributed many thousands of punds worth of goods on beaches in Devon and Dorset. You can read more about it at the BBC website.

On the news earlier, they interviewed a guy who had picked up a BMW M3 Steering Wheel - apparently one of the brand new fandabbydoozy ones. The reporter asked him if he owns a BMW, his reply;

No I don't but I expect it'll sell on eBay for a few quid.

I had to laugh. I was always under the impression that what is found on a beach between high and low tide is the property of no-one except the finder. It's some weird old law that has never been updated. Well, my belief has been shattered. Apparently all finds have to be logged with the authorities so that the owners can track you down to get their goods back (and give you a small finders fee for your trouble).

There is obviously some truth in there somewhere, as it is not illegal to take the stuff - but it is illegal to take it and hide it. Strange.

Police Constable Steve Speariett said "a couple of hundred people" were on the beach on Sunday night with the same number again scavenging on Monday. "Around 50 BMW motorbikes were carried off the beach last night," he added.

Anyway, have a read on the BBC site, and you can see that people are grabbing brand new BMW motorbikes, all manner of household goods. There are even cars being washed up…

I've written previously about sourcing free stuff for resale - this is something I'll revisit over the coming days I think.