The Wreck at Sharpnose Point: A Victorian Mystery (Picador, 2002)
Click here to read an extract. Click here for this book's Amazon page. Click here for the US edition's Amazon page.
While walking through a cliff-top graveyard in the village of Morwenstow on the coast of Cornwall, the author encounters a wooden Scottish maiden gtrimmed with emblems and a shield. At first Seal presumes the maiden is merely an elaborate headstone. But upon closer inspection, he realizes that the maiden, now a guardian for the graves she overlooks, was once the figurehead of a merchant ship. He learns that she adorned the Caledonia, a ship wrecked on the English coast in 1842, and that the crew had been benevolently buried there by the villagers. Further investigation leads Seal to suspect those villagers, and chiefly the village’s parson, Robert Hawker, for the Caledonia’s sudden demise. Though no one has ever been brought to court for ‘wrecking’ – luring ships ashore to loot the cargo – it’s a commonly held belief that this did take place. What happened at Morwenstow, a village cruelly perched above a jagged, inhospitable shore? Having meticulously researched maritime logs and burial registers, ‘broadside’ publications, diary entries and other first-hand documents, Seal weaves history, travelogue, and imaginative narrative into this marvellous piece of detective work, bringing us a mystery of the best kind – the sort that really did happen.
‘Illuminates so beautifully the creative act of historical reconstruction, the fascination of discovery and the immersive nature of the experience of delving into the past.’ - Glasgow Herald
‘A lively and colourful narrative that jumps effortlessly from history to travelogue to genealogy.’ - Sunday Times
‘In his vivid observations of the English coast, Seal’s writing is masterly.’ - Helena Drysdale
‘Attractively written and never less than compelling.’ - Sunday Telegraph
While walking through a cliff-top graveyard in the village of Morwenstow on the coast of Cornwall, the author encounters a wooden Scottish maiden gtrimmed with emblems and a shield. At first Seal presumes the maiden is merely an elaborate headstone. But upon closer inspection, he realizes that the maiden, now a guardian for the graves she overlooks, was once the figurehead of a merchant ship. He learns that she adorned the Caledonia, a ship wrecked on the English coast in 1842, and that the crew had been benevolently buried there by the villagers. Further investigation leads Seal to suspect those villagers, and chiefly the village’s parson, Robert Hawker, for the Caledonia’s sudden demise. Though no one has ever been brought to court for ‘wrecking’ – luring ships ashore to loot the cargo – it’s a commonly held belief that this did take place. What happened at Morwenstow, a village cruelly perched above a jagged, inhospitable shore? Having meticulously researched maritime logs and burial registers, ‘broadside’ publications, diary entries and other first-hand documents, Seal weaves history, travelogue, and imaginative narrative into this marvellous piece of detective work, bringing us a mystery of the best kind – the sort that really did happen.
‘Illuminates so beautifully the creative act of historical reconstruction, the fascination of discovery and the immersive nature of the experience of delving into the past.’ - Glasgow Herald
‘A lively and colourful narrative that jumps effortlessly from history to travelogue to genealogy.’ - Sunday Times
‘In his vivid observations of the English coast, Seal’s writing is masterly.’ - Helena Drysdale
‘Attractively written and never less than compelling.’ - Sunday Telegraph
