The horrific wreck of Royal Charter in 1859 had all of the elements of a sensational story: huge loss of life and riches in the form of Australian gold. Men were seen 'picking sovereigns out of the holes and crevices of the rocks as they would shell…

In the tiny churchyard of Granston, set back from the bay of Abermawr and its smaller neighbour Aberbach, two gravestones bear witness to anonymous victims of the waves. One marks the deaths of Captain Charles Bowlby and his crew of 28 on board the…