Caliban's shore : the wreck of the Grosvenor and the strange fate of her survivors

**What became of the castaways was stranger than fiction...and more than decent Englishmen could bear.** In the summer of 1783 the grandees of the East India Company were horrified to learn that one of their finest ships, the 741-ton __Grosvenor,__ had been lost on the wild and unexplored coast of southeast Africa. Astonishingly, most of those on board reached the shore safely91 members of the crew and 34 wealthy, high-born passengers, including women and children. They were hundreds of miles from the nearest European outpostand they were not alone. "They surveyed one another with mutual incomprehension: on the one hand the dishevelled castaways; on the other, black warriors with high conical hairstyles, daubed with red mud...." Drawing upon unpublished material and new research, Stephen Taylor pieces together the strands of this compelling saga, sifting the myths from a reality that is no less gripping. Full of unexpected twists, __Caliban's Shore__ takes the reader to the heart of what is now South Africa, to analyze the misunderstandings that led to tragedy, to tell the story of those who returned, and to unravel the mystery of those who stayed "This incredible true story reads like the wildest fiction."— Booklist In the summer of 1783 the grandees of the East India Company were horrified to learn that one of their finest ships, the 741-ton Grosvenor, had been lost on the wild and unexplored coast of southeast Africa. Astonishingly, most of those on board reached the shore safely—91 members of the crew and 34 wealthy, high-born passengers, including women and children. They were hundreds of miles from the nearest European outpost—and they were not alone. "They surveyed one another with mutual incomprehension: on the one hand the dishevelled castaways; on the other, black warriors with high conical hairstyles, daubed with red mud..." Drawing upon unpublished material and new research, Stephen Taylor pieces together the strands of this compelling saga, sifting the myths from a reality that is no less gripping. Full of unexpected twists, Caliban's Shore takes the reader to the heart of what... In the summer of 1782, an East India Company ship, the 741-ton Grosvenor, ran aground and sank off the southeast coast of Africa, the shore about 100 yards away; 91 crewmen and 34 British passengers survived. Taylor describes in detail what he was able to learn of the survivors' lives and recounts the vessel's structure and the calamitous weather that led to the disaster. "For the castaways, the natural world of Africa might have been another planet," Taylor writes, describing its plants and animals, rivers and insects. Some of the passengers and crew eventually returned home, but others stayed. The author visited the coast three times in the course of writing this book, and his research included nearly 80 sources. This incredible, true story reads like the wildest fiction 'A Man of High Character' -- Lord Macartney's Displeasure -- Island of Oak -- A Light in the Dark -- 'Nothing but Confusion and Dismay' -- The Caliban Shore -- Pondo's People -- A Fatal Dread -- 'Never After Together Again' -- Faultlines -- Habberley's Mission -- 'A Sacred Charge' -- Caliban Transformed -- The Fate of William Hosea -- 'The Vilest Brutish Prostitution' -- African Crusoes -- The Quest -- 'Our Fathers Are Come' -- Gquma's Tribe -- 'When the Long Trick's Over'.

This incredible true story reads like the wildest fiction.—Booklist

USA Today - Deirdre Donahue

With the success of The Perfect Storm and other maritime stories, accounts of disasters at sea have felled many a tree. What sets this superb history apart comes from Taylor's extensive knowledge of Africa. He describes the endless tribal wars, the emerging tensions with the Dutch and, especially, the Wild Coast terrain.

Recounts the 1782 shipwreck of one of the East India Company's most prestigious ships, describing how ninety-one crew members and thirty-four wealthy passengers found themselves stranded on the unexplored coast of southeast Africa The manner of William Hosea's departure would have befitted the Nawab himself.