Royal Captain
Franck
Goddio, Christoph Gerigk, Gabrielle Iltis, Miguel Moll Kraft
On
17th December, 1773, the Royal Captain, an English ship belonging to the
Honourable East India Company, struck a reef in the South China Sea and sank
with all its cargo on its maiden voyage. After many years of research, Franck
Goddio and his team from the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology
located and excavated the wreck. This book takes us on the hunt for the ship,
whose fate was well documented in the archives, and details its discovery and
excavation.
The authors supply historical background, and through meticulous study of the
recovered artefacts, piece together details of the crew’s life on board. The
book also contains an extraordinary photographic report by the talented
underwater photographer, Christoph Gerigk. Performing a deep-sea excavation at
more than 300m was previously unheard of and the success of this mission set new
standards in underwater archaeology.
·Royal
Captain: A Ship Lost in the abyss presents a fascinating historical record of
maritime commerce in the 18th century, in particular that of the Honourable East
India Company. Using the company’s archives as a starting point, the book
documents this key period of maritime trade.
·The status of the company, which was instrumental in the birth of the British
Empire, has meant that many of its meticulous records have been preserved. These
documents include pages from the ship’s logbook, minutes from meetings of the
company’s directors, as well as the report submitted by the inquiry conducted
following the loss of the ship. These records allow a step-by-step
reconstruction of the history of the ship, from the time it was built at
Randell’s Yard on the Thames, to the day it sank in the South China Sea.
hardback,
boxed, with dust cover and printed in four colours
123 colour and B&W photographs, diagrams and illustrations.
Format:300
x 238 mm, 104 pages
ISBN: 1-902699-19-X