Coppinger the Dane
Coppinger is a name well known in North Devon and Cornwall, as he has become a folk legend. His name is sometimes spelt "Copinger". He was believed to be a Danish man, the skipper and only survivor of a ship wreck off the coast of Hartland around 1792-3. He went on to marry a local girl Dinah Hamlyn and from her parent's home began a career of smuggling and piracy with his gang of thugs. He was reputed to be a bully and would regularly threaten to beat his wife in order to get his wife's family to do his bidding. It is no wonder then that he became known as "Cruel Coppinger". "Will you hear of Cruel Coppinger He came from a foreign land; He was brought to us by the salt water, He was carried away by the wind!" His gang were just as bad and are said to have beheaded a revenue officer in order to scare them away from their smuggling activity on the coast in their infamous ship called Black Prince. He is also said to have controlled large areas and ...