Real tales of the Victorian sea

Sorontar Sat Jan 08, 2022 7:00 am

This might not be steampunk exactly, but I thought I might start a thread for tales and information discovered by members about sailing, shipping, sea voyages and exploration, and anything else related to actual Victorian sea adventures.

To start it off, today I found out that Australia only had one pirate captain ( https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/10/14/3339904.htm ). I find this a bit hard to believe, but I do agree that Black Jack Anderson was successful for 10 years in the 1830s in Western Australia, making around 6 shillings for each seal skin he plundered from the trade ships heading to the eastern coast or Tasmania. I am now curious where his craft docked in Middle Island. Western Australia has a vast coast that is not as green and farmable as the east coast so it was not well populated by the non-Indigenous community. I do see it quite possible that he managed to hide from the Perth authorities, who would have little naval resources.

Here in the state of Victoria we have had many shipwrecks (a distant relative once tried to research them all, and other relatives were involved in some of the rescues in some of the wrecks, especially the one relate to the Loch Ard Peacock - http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place_local/113397 ) but obviously no pirates.

Do any of you have any interesting sea tales from your area?

Sorontar