Ten Rogues: The Unlikely Story of Convict Schemers, a Stolen Brig and an Escape from Van Diemen's Land to Chile
Allen & Unwin
- SKU:
- ALL098
- Availability:
- Last Supplies Available
Media: BOOK - paperback, 248 pages
Author: P. Grose
Year: 2020
ISBN: 9781760632618
Other: map, appendixes, bibliog, index
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
A band of convicts, a scoundrel by the name of Jimmy Porter, a stolen brig and a daring plan for escape
From the grim docks of nineteenth-century London to the even grimmer shores of the brutal penal colony of Norfolk Island, this is a roller-coaster tale. It has everything: defiance of authority, treachery, piracy and mutiny, escape from the hangman's noose and even love. Peopled with good men, buffoons, incompetents and larrikin convicts of the highest order, Ten Rogues is an unexpected and wickedly entertaining story from the great annals of Australia's colonial history.
With the lightness of touch of the master storyteller that he is, Peter Grose brings to irresistible life the story of a small band of convicts who managed to escape the living hell of the Tasmanian penal colony of Sarah Island. Their getaway began by stealing the leaky and untested brig they had helped to build, and then sailing it across the Pacific from Tasmania to Chile with neither a map nor a chronometer.
But their story does not begin or end there. From the strong connection between the slave trade and convict 'transportation' to the possible illegality of the whole convict system, Ten Rogues shines a light into some dark and previously well-hidden corners of colonial history.
Contents:
Introduction
Part 1. Convicts
1. Jimmy
2. Transportation
3. Expansion
Part 2. Van Diemen's Land
4. Hobart
5. Sarah Island
Part 3. The brig
6. Hoy
7. Plot
Part 4. Chile
8. Voyage
9. Valdivia
Part 5. Prisoners
10. Trial
11. Appeal
12. Norfolk Island
13. Whatever happened to ...
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Acknowledgements
Bibliography and Sources
Index