The story of Prince Lee Boo
From Palau to Rotherhithe: the story of Prince Lee Boo Less than two months after discovering this picture in the blissful air-conditioned cool of the Etpison Museum in Palau’s main town of Koror, I stood by a south London graveside, teeth chattering in the bitter cold despite my hat, scarf, gloves and multiple layers. The two settings couldn’t be further apart, geographically or in any other sense, yet a common story links the back streets of Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames with the tiny tropical Pacific island of Palau. That link is Prince Lee Boo. As so often with a good 18th century adventure, the story begins with a shipwreck. It was 1783 and Captain Henry Wilson and the crew of the East India Company vessel The Antelope found themselves stranded on the small island of Ulong, part of what we now know as Palau. The Antelope had been wrecked on the reef and the men soon set about rebuilding their ship so that they could set sail for Britain. Captain Wilson and th...
