'During the 1800s, thousands of people travelled from England and Europe to the new lands of the Antipodes. The voyage was a period of transition, a time of unaccustomed leisure and reflection. It produced a mass of sea-diaries and letters - we could call them Victorian blogs. Much of this writing is extraordinary: the authors, even those with little education, revealing a gift for narrative, observation and indeed entertainment. They write of birth, death, shipwreck, flirtation and secret adoration. Lucy Sussex has collected these voices in Saltwater in the Ink.' (From the publisher.)
