Beachcombing

 

You may call yourself a true beachcomber if you walk the beaches come rain come sunshine, looking for treasures that have washed ashore, gazing across the sea, hoping to find something usable. These items can be anything, from precious orange amber to a message in a bottle, old coins, cups and saucers, metal thimbles, shoe buckles, weapons and much more. A true beachcomber finds a use for all these things.

History
Beachcombing arose as a result of poverty. Because of low wages and unemployment, people often looked for useful items to sell in order to supplement their income, or just for personal use. Driftwood was used for fire or building sheds, while birdhouses, stools and even entire stoves were made from buoys found on the beach. To get hold of more goods, fires were lit on the beaches to lure ships towards the shore. Inevitability the ship would run aground, and the goods would wash ashore, or the beachcombers would row out the ship and raid it.

Horses
In the past, the beachcombers could be found on the beaches no matter what the weather. Strong winds, lashing rain - nothing stopped them. Often they would bring their horse along, to carry the heavier items, such as larger pieces of driftwood etc. Mostly the horse would be a Shire horse. This English breed of horse is the largest in the world and was originally bred for use by knights, who needed a big, strong horse to carry them in their suits of armour. Shire horses were later used at breweries to pull the carts with heavy casks of beer.

Beachcombing or stealing?
Did you know that beachcombing is actually illegal? The chief wreck master, often the mayor, and the assistant wreck masters would keep watch over the beach and whenever goods washed ashore, it would be a race between the wreck masters and the beachcombers as to who would get to the items first. The beachcombers would hide the valuable goods they found in the dunes and retrieve them again later after things had died down.

Sea travel has become much safer in the past decades. Ships sail with little crew as it is, and disasters are rare. Nevertheless, every beachcomber has a scanner enabling them to listen in on the Coast Guard. This gives them a slight advantage when tracking down the goods. Over the years, the beachcomber has traded in his horse and wagon for a more modern form of transport, a jeep. They mostly keep what they find, although the more unusual finds go to museums. The museum "'t Behouden Huys" on the island of Terschelling is one of those museums.

Take to the beach with a real beachcomber
On the island of Texel you will find the only authentic beachcomber left in the Netherlands - Maarten Boon. Maarten searches the beach every day together with his two horses, looking for driftwood and other things that have washed ashore. You are welcome to join him in his wagon made of driftwood. Maarten will take you along the beach and through the dunes, filling you in on local legends and demonstrating where the items used to be hidden in the dunes. The tour finishes at the "Beachcomber's Grotto", a cave where Maarten collects all the things he has found. The tours run from 01 March - 31 October.