The Wreck of the "Abergavenny"

by Alethea Hayter (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $11.84

  A publishing event - a new book by a renowned author - about the literary connections to Britain's greatest maritime disaster From the author of the classic A Sultry Month , comes a short work of narrative non-fiction that encompasses the literary and seafaring worlds. In 1805 John Wordsworth, brother of the more famous William, set sail from Weymouth Bay in charge of a large merchant ship. Intent on taking the Abergavenny round the frontier of the known world, the crew and commander were prepared for disease, piracy and the unknown. They didn't, however, suspect that they would never make it out of British waters and that hundreds would perish within sight of land. John Wordsworth planned to share the fortune he would make on the Abergavenny with William so he would be free to continue his poetry. Instead John ended in a watery grave and William would see that the best of his work was now behind him. This is an intimate and beautifully observed view of a family and the effects of tragedy.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $9.55

  In February 1805 the Earl of Abergavenny set sail in convoy from Portsmouth for a voyage to India and China, captained by John Wordsworth, the younger brother of the poet William Wordsworth. On board were more than 400 passengers and crew. Only three days later, separated from the convoy by stormy weather, the ship struck the notorious Shamble shoal in Weymouth bay and sank, drowning 260 souls including her Captain.

  From the harrowing accounts of the survivors and the detailed official and press reports if the disaster, The Wreck of the Abergavenny brilliant recreates this tragic event and its impact on John's brother William and his friends Coleridge, Charles and Mary Lamb, and many others. Dramatic, haunting and engaging The Wreck of the Abergavenny is an intimate and beautifully observed view of a family and the effects of tragedy. It is a masterpiece of narrative non-fiction.

  'Hayter gives us intellectual as well as emotional excitement. . .beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read' Sunday Times

  'Hayter's marvellous book is.a jewel of popular history writing' Kathryn Hughes, Literary Review