Captain William Shakespear (distant relative of a more famous name-sake with an e at the end) was a most unconventional traveller. When in 1914 he travelled by camel from Kuwait to Riad and on to the Suez, he took with him - as a desert is a place without water or privacy - a collapsible bath and several crates of fine wine. Having complained that the nights were excruciatingly cold and the days unbearably hot, I wonder what happened to the crates of wine. He mentions that he celebrated arriving in Sinai by having a bath and eating a fine meal with Vermouth, his last bottle of Moselle and a good bottle of Port. They must have been badly cooked after such a journey!
I have no other info, but does anyone of you know which sort of Port he would have had with him? This is nothing serious, I'm just writing a small paper on Shakespear, and got interested in this little detail! I assume that a Colheita might survive the temperature extremes a little better than VP? But I imagine that not only the wine, but the palate, must have been heat shocked
I wonder why he didn't take a Madeira along....
Otto
