On the night of 12-13 August 1856, the French Naval steam corvette Duroc was wrecked on Mellish Reef about 800kms off the Queensland coast. The Duroc was returning to France from New Caledonia where she had been stationed for the previous three years or so. After the ship ran aground, some seventy people made itContinue reading “The Loss of the Duroc and the rise of la Deliverance”
Category Archives: South Pacific Islands
The Loss of the Saint Paul and its Horrific Aftermath– 1858
In September 1858 the French ship Saint Paul was wrecked off Rossel Island east of New Guinea with as many as 370 people on board. Of those, fewer than a dozen men escaped with their lives. One of whom was Narcisse Pelletier who escaped to Cape York and lived with the Uutaalnganu people for theContinue reading “The Loss of the Saint Paul and its Horrific Aftermath– 1858”
The Mystery of the Peri
In February 1872 the crew of HMS Basilisk found fourteen men barely clinging to life on a derelict schooner adrift off the far north Queensland coast. The vessel’s name was not immediately apparent and none of the survivors spoke English. It was a mystery as to how the vessel came to be in those northernContinue reading “The Mystery of the Peri”
Bligh’s Epic Open-Boat Voyage
On 28 April 1789 Lt William Bligh was startled awake by the presence in his cabin of his first mate, Fletcher Christian, and several other HMS Bounty sailors threatening his life if he did not do as they ordered. He along with 18 members of his crew who wanted nothing to do with the unfoldingContinue reading “Bligh’s Epic Open-Boat Voyage”
Loss of La Astrolabe and La Boussole: a 40 Year Mystery
One of the great maritime mysteries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was the disappearance of the French ships La Astrolabe and La Boussole under the command of La Perouse. They were last sighted leaving Botany Bay in 1788 but it would be another 40 years before the world discovered what became ofContinue reading “Loss of La Astrolabe and La Boussole: a 40 Year Mystery”
Tales from the Quarterdeck 