Interesting story. I've heard of that kind of thing before with naming a place after a wrecked ship. Empire, Michigan is named after a ship called the Empire State that grounded there. Rumor has it that the people didn't used to be a friendly as they are now and used to use lanterns to confuse ships and run them aground so they could plunder the cargo.
Mike Hershberger
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
Mike people are still looting goods. Think about what happened two years ago in New Orleans.
It was most likely a common practice to salvage, plunder, steal goods from shipwrecks. I would image depending on where you lived in the world you make a good living this way.