Shadows by the sea

A shipwreck brings many interested people to a hamlet. Close by the wreck, a gentleman discovers a swatch of fabric on the beach where a youth reports seeing a dead body. Why has the innkeeper of the nearby Mermaid Hotel disappeared? What is on the wreck that is so important? And what motivates the various strangers who are looking into the wreck - romance, a thirst for adventure, or something more serious?