Prologue

 

 

Many of you will remember the tragic loss at sea of Tanya Taylor the Trans-Atlantic yachtswoman. The document you are about to read was delivered to me in my capacity as a journalist rather than an author and I cannot speak for its provenance. It is my understanding that it was originally found in the walls of a cellar by a builder who was undertaking some renovation work on a house in the home counties. The whole thing was written in the margins and spaces of a copy of The Times newspaper. The writing is tiny and painfully formed in an ink of nondescript colour which has faded badly in parts. I give here as faithful a reproduction of the text as I am able but, inevitably, there are whole words and sometimes groups of words that have had to be extrapolated. There are no natural breaks in the text and so I have taken the liberty of editing it into ‘chapters’. The original document is now in the hands of the appropriate authorities.