Nigel Pickford is a maritime historian and works with companies to locate shipwrecks and recover lost cargo and treasure. His previous books include Lady Bette and the Murder of Mr. Thynn, but this is his first book to be published in America. Nigel lives in England.
"""Author Nigel Pickford, a salvage expert, recounts the sinking in vivid detail and offers possible causes, an obvious one being that the ship wasn't in, well, ship-shape. The book's strongest suit is arguably the kaleidoscopic, detailed picture it paints of late-17th-century English society, from palace intrigue to plagiarizing cartographers and slop sellers nestled in London's crooked streets.""--The Globe and Mail ""Pickford's comprehensive knowledge and enthusiasm for shipwrecks turn the book into both an enjoyable and valuable read.""--World History Encyclopedia ""Historian Pickford delivers a tantalizing account of the mysterious wreckage of the Gloucester as it brought the future King James II from Portsmouth, England, to Edinburgh in 1682. The result is a valuable overview of one of England's great maritime mysteries.""--Publishers Weekly ""Pickford's investigation will entrance buffs of maritime and Restoration history.""--Booklist ""Fascinating. Pickford offers an expert study of the actual circumstances of this shipwreck. At the same time, his narrative is extremely readable and well structured. His extensive archival research enables him to provide poignant details about members of the doomed crew and to give insights into their private lives. At a more general level, he shows how the media was manipulated even in the seventeenth century, as the Crown tried to control popular opinion and turn all circumstances to advantage.""--Margarette Lincoln, author of London and the Seventeenth Century"