The wreck of the Abergavenny - Alethea Hayter

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.