The Beachcombing skill alllows you to search the islands in the Shrouded Isles, there is a small chance that you will uncover a shipwreck or other odd resource which you can then pick up to gain any one of a number of special resources.
You can gain vessel resources such as sailcloth, tar barrels, weathered planks and rope and you can also gain special items such as sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal which are used in the manufacture of fireworks and bombs.
Skill Trainer Location
Wilma Watts at 49, 48 in Shrouded Isles
Finding wreckage
You will only find wrecks on land, the Shrouded Isles have some extremely powerful storms that often force ships up on to the rocks. The ships break apart and over many years often become a part of the land itself as pieces are driven further onto the beach.
As the winds blow often earth and debris builds up around the vessel and eventually it is not recognisable as a shipwreck at all and seems to be part of the land.
When you spot some beached wreckage it will look like the following images:
To recover any items left inside the wreckage simply click on the image and it will automatically recover what was inside.
If you are lucky you will recover some ingredients used in the Seamanship skill, otherwise you may find nothing of use.
Note: The different islands all offer different wreckage, this encourages players to take islands to gain access to the resource. For more information on the beachcombing resources found on islands check out the World > Maps > Territory screen.
While generally raising your skill doesnt provide any immediate benefits aside from the resources, you may find that after 500 skill you get access to new resources such as metal from wreckage.
Also another reason for raising the skill is that at:
So raising it provides a nice benefit.