This gouache painting of the East Indiaman ‘Grosvenor’ shows the desperate efforts to rescue those on board when she broke up on a reef north of Port St Johns in Pondoland, South Africa on August 4th, 1792, owing to an error in the charts supplied to the captain. The ship is known to have broken her back and is shown here in two distinct pieces, with only her head and stern visible, as recorded in the three days after the disaster. The outbreak of war between Britain and France in 1778 spread very quickly to the Indian subcontinent and Grosvenor’s departure for England in 1782 was delayed until dangerously late in the season. The weather was very bad during her voyage and, misled by the charts, she sailed too close to the African coast. 123 out of 138 people reached land after the wreck, but only 19 survived the barren conditions and the hostile locals that they encountered. The ship’s ensign is whipped by the wind and desperate sailors cling to a rope strung precariously between her stern and a rocky promontory. Jagged clouds and a turbulent sea enhance the effect of the storm.