William Falconer's The Shipwreck

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Essential Information

Location	National Maritime Museum

09 Dec 2009

December's item of the month is somewhat hard to categorise: part fiction, part autobiography and part instructional guide for sailors, William Falconer's poem The Shipwreck is a must-read for Patrick O'Brian fans. Fair enough, there's no Jack Aubrey character - but the combination of high seas drama and technical detail makes for a surprisingly compelling read

If you'd like to take a look for yourself, stop in at the library and ask staff to request it from the Rare Book collection. Or, you can read a digisitised version of the 1772 edition of The Shipwreck courtesy of Google Books.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)