The Last Voyage of the Guardian: Lieutenant Riou, Commander, 1789-1791 (Van Riebeeck Society, Second series, No. 20)

xl, 244pp [10]. Tipped in colour frontispiece and occasional further monochrome plate illustrations. Map on rear endpapers. In brown cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering. 8vo. Cloth very softly rounded at corners and spine tips. Text block edges toned affecting page margins, mild strip tanning on front endpapers, light spotting on rear endpapers, else internally neat and clean. In its original dust jacket, mildly bumped along upper edge and moderated sunned over spine.

The voyage of HMS Guardian is unique in naval history. Sailing from Spithead in 1789, laden with stores and provisions for Britain’s new ‘thief’ colony in New South Wales, she struck an iceberg thirteen days out from the Cape of Good Hope. Only one escape boat survived the voyage back to the Cape – although against all odds, The Guardian herself reached Table Bay a month later. Here, her young captain, Edward Riou, spent a year before receiving orders from the Admiralty to destroy the ship and return to England. This is his story told his journals and other contemporary documents.