Sydney Cove: the History and Archaeology of an Eighteenth Century Shipwreck

Wrecked in 1797 while on a journey from Calcutta to Port Jackson, the Sydney Cove was the first merchant vessel lost while engaged in trade with the colony of New South Wales.

This book is a fascinating mix — it begins with a detailed historical background to the way the merchant trade with the colony developed, then follows one of the ships and its motley crew and cargo from Calcutta to its eventual grounding in the treacherous waters of Bass Strait. The final section takes a modern viewpoint, outlining the discovery and investigation of the shipwreck site, and the painstaking work by archaeologists to reconstruct the story.

The design for the book involved finding an approach that worked across all sections. I used the beautiful typeface Freight, with its complimentary sans serif and serif forms providing options for the various levels of text, captions and diagrams. The project also called for the creation of a number of maps, one of my very favourite design areas.

Printed by Brown Prior Anderson in Victoria, Sydney Cove received a bronze award in the 2010 Printing Industries Craftsmanship Awards.