Product Description

The Grosvenor was one of the finest East Indiamen of her day, a grand three-masted square-rigger of 741 tons bristling with cannon. When she ran aground on the treacherous cost of south-east Africa, the castaways found themselves utterly ignorant of their surroundings and the local people. Stephen Taylor pieces together the extraordinary tale of what happened next. He reveals the misunderstandings that led to the tragedy and tells the story of those who escaped, and unravels the mystery of those who stayed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127798 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 297 pages

Paul Theroux
A wonderful book, hugely satisfying on many levels ... but most of all as an adventure.'

Daily Telegraph, 14 February 2004
The Caliban Shore is a … terrific salvage operation ... complex, moving and immaculately paced.

Scotsman, 14 February 2004
Taylor takes us into entirely unexpected places, into stories that can only be half-told but which have extraordinary resonance.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic tale of adventure and endurance
The Caliban Shore is one of those extraordinary stories that you comes across rarely, but which makes you marvel at the incredulity of what happened to a disparate band of (predominantly) Brits who were wrecked off the coast of Africa in 1782, hundreds of miles from the nearest Europeans and entirely ignorant of the people or land into which they had inadvertently blundered. As they try and work their way down to the Dutch settlements in the far south they begin to realise that none of them might make it out of this strange land.

Stephen Taylor does an excellent job of piecing together all the fragmentary truths, rumours and myths surrounding the Grosvenor castaways and weaving a fascinating narrative of what the ordeal was like for those who had to endure it. The story throws up many heroes and villains, mysteries and startling truths. It also provides an interesting account of the state of Indian colonial society in the 18th century and the state of the tribes of South Africa at the same time. Definitely well worth a read.

Bring a film out on it!
The Grosvenor was one of the finest East Indiamen of her day, but she ran aground on the treacherous coast of south-east Africa. An astonishing number of her crew and passengers, including women and children, reached the shore safely, but the castaways found themselves hundreds of miles from the nearest European outpost - and utterly ignorant of their surroundings and the people among whom they found themselves.

Drawing upon much new research, Stephen Taylor pieces together this extraordinary saga, sifting the myths that became attached to The Grosvenor from a reality that is no less gripping. Taking the reader to the heart of what is now the Wild Coast of Pondoland, he reveals the misunderstandings that led to tragedy, tells the story of those who escaped, and unravels the mystery of those who stayed. An unforgetable story of its time of how the survivors trekked for over 400 miles across the most hostile of lands suffering the most extreme of privations. After many months they reach safety amongst kind hearted dutch settlers...but alas for many it was not to be!

Gripping story, told really well with great detail and a flowing easy to read narrative....great read!

First rate factual adventure.
A tragic tale of shipwreck off the East African coast. Although a very sad account of the fate of men, women and children, the book also gives a detailed account of the various lifestyles of Europeans living and trading in 1780s India. Initially I thought that this was going to be an account of man and meteorology but the book is a good balance of biography, geography, history and maritime facts. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down in the wee hours of the morning.