Product Description

The enthralling story of a famous eighteenth-century shipwreck - and of what befell the ship's castaways on the Wild Coast of Africa.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92618 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 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

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.

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!

The Caliban Shore
The book is very detailed, in fact I think too detailed. If you just want to read about the actual experience these unfortunate people suffered only read the middle or their abouts of the book. The rest is more akin to a study.
While I admire the effort Stephen Taylor has put into writing this book, does all the detailed back ground about each character really enhance the yarn ?