188 pages, indexed, illustrated. The front end paper has been neatly cut out, else clean, unmarked and solid. "400 died .. only 9 survived - A winter's gale in 1845, Australia's worst civil disaster -- a sailing ship stranded only 150 yards off the deserted shore of King Island, isolated by rows of reefs; victims clinging, for up to two days, to the disintegrating vessel. The miraculous rescue of the survivors by an ex-convict, the response to the news in Melbourne and England, and the gruesome aftermath of burial and salvage complete the tale." ( Back cover)