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Wreck Detectives

Alum Bay wreck

Introduction | Diver's log | History | More

Websites
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Weymouth Underwater Archaeological Group
www.weymouthdiving.co.uk/index.html
The excavation of the Earl of Abergavenny that sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805 is now in its 23rd year. The website has a passenger list, poems written by William Wordsworth in memory of his brother, the ship's captain, and a number of survivor accounts of the tragedy.

Guardian Review – Clinging to the Wreckage
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,6121,786557,00.html
A S Byatt reviews Alethea Hayter's elegant meditation on Wordsworth's attempt to come to terms with the death of his brother, The Wreck of the Abergavenny.

National Maritime Museum
www.nmm.ac.uk
Opened in 1937, the museum has the most important holdings in the world on the history of Britain at sea and the world's largest maritime historical reference library including books dating back to the 15th century.

Channel 4 – War Against Napoleon
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/napoleon/index.html
Gives the vital facts and figures about the wars fought between Britain and France during the tumultuous years 1793-1815.

Channel 4 – Napoleon's Empire: Time Traveller's Guide
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide18/index.html
All you need to know of Napoleon's seizure of power in 1799.

Napoleon Guide
www.napoleonguide.com
An outstanding site with information on all aspects of warfare, the Napoleonic era and an animated map of the shifting geography of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.

Public Record Office
www.pro.gov.uk
National archive of England, Wales and the UK which brings together and preserves the records of central government and the courts of law, and makes them available to the public. The records span an unbroken period from the 11th century to the present day.

Books

The Wreck of the Abergavenny by Alethea Hayter (Macmillan, 2002)
Gives a beautifully observed account of the 1805 tragedy where Captain John Wordsworth, brother of the more famous William, set sail from Weymouth Bay in charge of a large merchant ship and never made it out of British waters.
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Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia 1600-1830 by Anthony Farrington (British Library Publishing, 2002)
The East India Company was founded in 1600 to consolidate and exploit the Asian markets, and as a commercial enterprise came to control half the world's trade. This book shows the human cost of creating this early 'global market' and how the company's activities displayed some of the worst aspects of colonialism.
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Lords of the East: The East India Company and its ships by Jean Sutton (Brassey's Conway Maritime, 2000)
Almost continual warfare, the scandals of the opium trade and the famous 'tea clipper races' of the 19th century, make up the turbulent history of this company. Also examines the technical details of its ships – the lordly East Indiamen. The vessels are described, as are the less well-known aspects of its shipping, such as the company's private navy – the Bombay Marine.
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Britain in the Age of the French Revolution 1785-1820 by Jennifer Mori (Longman, 2000)
Examines the impact of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic aftermath on Britain and the revolutionary and democratic ideas of the period.
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Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras by Terence Grocott (Stackpole, 1999)
Details over 1,500 maritime disasters from 1793 through to 1815 in an account based on the reporting of the time.
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