TOFTÖ

When a storm was brewing, hunger and poverty led one or two of the poor of the Bohus coast to pray for God to bless the shores with wrecks. An undisturbed wreck plunderer could make a fortune.

But it was strictly forbidden. The crown had sole right to the goods recovered. Anyone who killed crew or lured ships with false lights could expect death himself.

Here on the west side of Toftö there are three deep bays, which have always been rich in wreckage. Among the more unpleasant finds have been mines and other explosive devices in the Second World War. At the highest point on the island the rock forms a space with three walls, which bear traces of fire. A light there could easily lure nocturnal seafarers onto the skerries.

The waters between Toftö and the coast are a ships' graveyard, where wornout vessels have been sunk: the fore-and-aft schooner Dyring, the topsail schooner Annie, Vågen I and II, Ebet, Böljan, Nordstjernan, and an anonymous barge.

On the east side, a little way up from the shore, there are the foundations of houses, presumably relics of shore-dwellers who lived here on fishing and small farming. Round the bays to the west there are also traces of temporary dwellings.