When the Romantic poet’s younger brother John died at sea, marine artefacts helped him bear the loss, research reveals

When William Wordsworth’s beloved younger brother John died on a ship that sank in rough seas off the coast of Dorset in 1805, the great Romantic poet dealt with his sorrow by writing of the “calamitous” loss: “Sea, Ship, drown’d, Shipwreck – so it came/The meek, the brave, the good, was gone;/ He who had been our living John/ Was nothing but a name.”

John was captain of the East India Company’s largest ship, the Earl of Abergavenny, which sank after hitting rocks shortly after embarking on a trading voyage to China. He was among more than 250 crew and passengers who perished on a bitterly cold February night.