Antiques Roadshow guest discovers valuable 18th-century ship logbook with dark secrets

An Antiques Roadshow guest was left visibly shaken after learning the value and dark past of a long-lost book found in an attic. The BBC programme traveled to Stephen's House in Finchley for its latest episode, where a mother and son brought along a leather-bound 18th‑century logbook with a remarkable backstory. The manuscript had sat forgotten in the attic of the guest's late partner's home near London, was moved to North Devon when he retired, and was rediscovered only after his death last year.

Maritime expert Fuchsia Voremberg identified the item as an 18th‑century logbook from the Triton, a vessel that sailed under the East India Company. She described what logbooks record and why the period matters. 'A log book records, essentially, the weather, any particular instances that happen on the ship, and gives you a kind of general sense of the daily happenings of a ship of this nature,' she explained. 'At this point in time, towards the end of the 18th century, we're in what we now know as the Age of Revolution.' The pages recount life at sea as the Triton traversed the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, with recurring notes on sailors' hardships and the constant proximity of naval conflict. There is a reminder of the human cost of seamanship, and of the men who lived and died along those routes.

Delving into the journal's contents, Voremberg read aloud a 1793 entry describing a sailor named Samuel Adams punished for 'drunkenness and making a disturbance on the orlop deck.' The book also contains a much darker moment, noted in the pages as a man who 'committed his body to the deep and performed divine service.' The combination of routine records and grim episodes offers a window into a voyage that could be dangerous and unpredictable. The final sections feature delicate coastal views, including Prince of Wales Island, which is today Penang in Malaysia, with Fort Cornwallis and ships sketched along the shore, a reminder that art and record-keeping could coexist on a voyage that was as perilous as it was historic. The expert suggested the journal was likely written on board, using a quill as seas and storms buffeted the ship, an illustration of the craft and endurance of sailors and scribes alike.

'If this were to come up at auction, I would expect it to fetch a price in the region of £2,000,' Voremberg said, underscoring that the logbook is not merely an heirloom but a collectible with a clear market. The guests listened in silence and then gasped as the figure sank in; the elderly partner's memory and their own sentiment collided with commercial value. 'My late partner would have liked it to go somewhere where people would see it,' the guest reflected, a remark the expert called a really nice idea. The exchange underscored how a personal keepsake can cross over into public, educational value when placed in the right venue. Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and to stream on iPlayer.