By Hayley Anderson

Copyright walesonline

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. An Antiques Roadshow guest was unsteady on her foot after discovering her “lost” book’s true value. The iconic BBC series travelled to Stephen’s House, Finchley, where expert Fuchsia Voremberg was met with a mother-and-son and their leather bound book. Voremberg commented: “So it’s a warm day here in London but as you pulled this beautiful 18th Century log book out of your bag, I felt the shiver of a sea breeze run over me.” When asked to explain its provenance, the pensioner replied: “It was found in the attic of my partner’s house near London. So we brought it down to North Devon when he retired and the book got mislaid and couldn’t find it in the house. “Sadly, he passed away last year, and a further search, we found this book.” The man added: “He was really interested in the book and it was sad he didn’t have the opportunity to do it. “So we just wanted to make sure that we found out more about it.” Voremberg shared that it was an 18th Century log book for a ship called the Triton which was part of the “enormous” private corporation the East India Company. She elaborated: “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. “At this point in time, towards the end of the 18th Century, we’re in what we now know as the Age of Revolution. “There is so much activity and movement that as these ships move through the waters of the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, the China Sea, they’re constantly coming into contact with other vessels with whom they are at war. “But one of the things that I think it’s important to remember is the experience of a sailor on board a ship like this. “I think it was a really, really hard life.” The expert went on to read out an extract from the log book from 1793 which described how a man called Samuel Adams was confined for “drunkenness and making a disturbance on the orlop deck”. She then recalled a “darker chapter” in the book’s story where a man “committed his body to the deep and performed divine service”. “So it was a really risky business,” Voremberg said. She continued: “So there’s one final surprise that this log book has for us, which, if you skip to the very end, what you see are a series of rather beautifully delicate coastal views. “This is Prince of Wales Island, which is currently known as Penang in Malaysia. “Down here, we have a view of Fort Cornwallis and you can see these ships just so delicately depicted all the way along the coastline with the little trees behind them.” The man then asked if everything in the book would have been written on board the ship, to which Voremberg clarified: “That’s a very good question. It probably would have been written on the ship, which is quite an amazing thing to consider if you’re using a quill pen and being buffeted around by the oceans.” Summarising, the expert shared: “It’s such a beautiful thing, I’m really grateful for you bringing it along. “I think if this was to come up at auction, I would expect it to fetch a price in the region of £2,000.” With their eyes bulging, both of the guests exclaimed: “Wow. That’s amazing”, as the woman looked uneasy on her feet and wobbled. “Do you know what you’re going to do with it now?” Voremberg asked. The pensioner said: “My late partner would have liked it to go somewhere where people would see it”, with the expert stating that she thought it was a “really nice idea”. Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.