Between 1788 and 1868 something like 162,000 convicts were put on transport ships and banished to the colonies to serve out their sentences. Such were conditions onboard some of these ships and the hazards and vast distances travelled, perhaps as many as one in one hundred perished without ever setting foot on Australian soil. WhenContinue reading “The Loss of the Convict Ship Neva – 1835”
Tag Archives: Nautical
The Krait’s Remarkable Career
The small fishing vessel MV Krait holds a special place in Australian maritime and military history. Named after a small deadly snake, it played an import part in Operation Jaywick’s which sank several Japanese ships anchored in Singapore Harbour in September 1943. This is the Krait’s story. The MV Krait started life as a JapaneseContinue reading “The Krait’s Remarkable Career”
Narcisse Pelletier: An Extraordinary Tale of Survival.
In April 1875 the pearling schooner John Bull’s crew happened upon a man clearly of European heritage living with a group of Aborigines on Cape York Peninsula. Mistakenly thinking that the man was being held against his will, they took him onboard their vessel and delivered him to the Government outpost at Somerset. His nameContinue reading “Narcisse Pelletier: An Extraordinary Tale of Survival.”
The Batavia Tragedy – 1629
On 4 June 1629, the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) ship Batavia slammed into a reef off the Western Australian coast stranding some 340 people far from any help. But that was just the beginning of one of maritime history’s most appalling chapters. Forty or so people died when the ship broke apart but aContinue reading “The Batavia Tragedy – 1629”
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”
Tales from the Quarterdeck 