Unfortunately not all hidden treasure glitters…

Call me biased, but I think there is something particularly special about living on the coast.

After a busy day at work, I consider it a great privilege to be able to grab my spaniels’ leads and take Izzy and Badger for a long walk on some of Dorset’s finest beaches. Nothing says downtime like being blown about by a stiff sea breeze with sand in your shoes and no signal on your phone.

Family beach walks are never dull; the tide has a talent for turning the shoreline into a masterful curator of curiosities…

The dogs, with their unerring instinct for mischief, delight in wrestling oversized sticks and driftwood from the shallows. And when she’s not practising her overarm action with a soggy cricket ball, my daughter Martha can usually be found scanning the shoreline for flotsam and marvelling at the curious treasures delivered by the tide… The enormous crab she found washed up last week like an alien creature from the deep was a particularly exciting discovery.

However, for all our hours of enthusiastic beachcombing, I can’t say that we have ever been so fortunate as to have stumbled upon an ancient treasure or a priceless piece of maritime history. So I can only imagine the delight that local residents must have felt upon discovering part of a historic shipwreck buried in the sand at Studland Bay.

According to experts from Bournemouth University, early results strongly suggest that the timber remnants are from a missing section of the Swash Channel wreck that sits in a key shipping approach to Poole Harbour.

The vessel itself is thought to be the Fame from Hoorn, a Dutch merchant ship which ran aground near Studland in 1631 after she was dragged onto a sandbank. All 45-crew members abandoned ship safely, but the Fame was quickly looted by Studland residents who watched the wreck happen (apparently, human nature hasn’t evolved much!).

After lying buried for nearly 400 years, the ship’s timbers were revealed by Storm Chandra, which battered the Dorset coast a couple of weeks ago. At least there is something positive to have come out of all this bad weather and relentless rain, even if it wasn’t quite a chest of Spanish doubloons!

As in the case of Fame from Hoorn, in business it often takes a storm – a sudden shock, disruption or unwelcome surprise – to expose what has been there all along. Though unfortunately in the loss prevention world, what is revealed tends to be far less romantic than a 17th-century shipwreck!

In calmer conditions, risks within a retail business can remain buried beneath the surface… unseen, underestimated and, in some cases, ignored for months or even years. It is only when conditions change, for example, organised criminal gangs develop new operational tactics or a major event disrupts supply chains, that these vulnerabilities are brought to light. Unfortunately, by the time they surface the financial and reputational damage has often already been done.

This is precisely why, at ASEL, we devote so much attention to what isn’t immediately obvious.

Effective loss prevention and security is not about reacting once the wreckage has washed ashore. It is about asking the right questions early, understanding what may be lurking beneath the surface, and continually reassessing risk as conditions evolve.

Living by the coast is a useful reminder that calm waters can change quickly, and that preparation is always preferable to a costly clean-up operation.

Hmm. I think I’d better stock up on some more sandbags…