Overview

In the August of 1792 the East Indiaman Winterton, with her precious cargo of 300,000 silver dollars, was wrecked on a reef off Madagascar. As the ship broke up, the 300 crew and passengers clung to pieces of wreckage, eventually to be washed up, exhausted, on the beach. More than 40 of them perished in the surf. John Dale, the second senior surviving officer, rigged up the ship's yawl and set off with six officers to fetch help. But his efforts were marred by tragedy and misfortune. By the time he returned, alone, seven months later malaria had wiped out almost half the original survivors. And their ill luck did not stop there. War had since broken out between England and France, and on route to Madras the group was captured and imprisoned on Mauritius before finally gaining passage to India, while Dale himself was impressed into service on a French privateer, liberated by the Dutch and then taken prisoner again by the French, before reaching English shores more than two years after he had first set sail. Jean Hood has chronicled a fascinating episode in maritime history, which has all the more resonance for being rooted in the quiet heroism, the dignity, the suffering and courage

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The pride of her owners, the vessel Winterton left England in 1792 with a full complement of passengers and a cargo of 300,000 silver dollars, all bound for Bengal. The East Indiaman had been state-of-the-art when launched ten years earlier and even now she dwarfed most other merchant vessels. 120 years before the Titanic, the Winterton was considered indestructible. But disaster awaited. The cocksure captain, George Dundas, did not trust his newfangled chronometer and ordered a change of course more in line with his own instincts. Satisfied that all contingencies had been covered, he turned in for the night and left his number two, the 23-year-old John Dale, in command. Dale wasn't sure his captain had got it right but he couldn't question the great man's orders. Which was a pity, for within minutes the ship would be wrecked on a reef and what happened over the next two years makes the story of Robinson Crusoe appear tame in comparison. Jean Hood has a strong narrative style that graphically traces a true tale of drama, mishaps, gallantry and heroism. Few people have heard of the Winterton and what happened to her survivors after being shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean, but it is a story that deserves to stand along the most famous tales of human endeavour. John Dale, despite his youth, showed a maturity and sense of leadership that should have earned him acclaim. But this being fact and not fiction, and Dale being of lowly birth, things didn't happen that way. His story, and that of his fellow survivors, is no less thrilling for that. Every effort they made to overcome the disaster appeared to be jinxed. They were taken prisoners of war, escaped, bargained with a foreign King and were struck down by malaria. Throughout it all Dale's dignity and the stoicism of his friends - men, women and children - warm the heart. Hood has researched a long-forgotten but epic episode in maritime history and tells the story in fine style. (Kirkus UK)

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