Captain Daniel Roberts made a series of cameo-like appearances in the lives of Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edward E. Williams and Edward John Trelawny. But more important than having designed the boat in which Shelley drowned, and having chartered the ship which took Byron to Greece (where he died), Roberts wrote five journals (from 1822-1840), which contain a treasure trove of information from the ingredients of Italian village soup to the quality of Swiss Inns.