Ten Rogues

It had hard not be impressed that these ten rogues with their stealing a bunch of Huon pine (the ship that never was) were able to sail this wood from Van Diemen's Land to Chile on what was an approximate journey of about 10,800 kilometres in some of the wildest seas that are imaginable.

It is also hard not be impressed that author Peter Grose has able to fill a 220-page book with as much information about this based on such limited information available, with “fill” being the operative word. Much of what he has filled the book with concerning convict history in Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Sarah Island this reviewer has read in much more depth. With a very bright and attractive cover and a breezy easy to read style, this would nonetheless be a very good read for the casual reader who has made a visit to Sarah Island and has a passing interest in this “......unlikely story”, to quote the subtitle.

The vast majority of the information available to us today is from the unreliable writings of convict Jimmy Porter. He gave two contradictory accounts of his actions, one written in Hobart in 1837 and the other at Norfolk Island in 1842. His versions of events were media sensations of their times. He and four other of his roguish colleague's trial for piracy in 1837 were to become a legal sensation as well. What was a hanging offence became, after much discussion and debate in legal and media circles, just another sentence of transportation for life. Why? How can they be guilty of piracy when that is a crime of the high seas and the bunch of Huon pine was nothing but that! It may have looked like a brig, but show us the papers that it is one your honour. It is the King's own wood that has been stolen and from a harbour, not the high seas! This was a defence well-made by the defendants. The judge thought they had a point too, so let's just send them to Norfolk Island, far better than cause célèbre hangings.

The main protagonist Jimmy Porter led a life. From the records attainable, he came from a well-to-do family but was always in trouble for minor misdemeanours. He went to sea as a young lad and ended up in Valparaiso in Chile and married locally and had children. Still young, the lure of the sea called, and off he went. He ended up back in England, but minor misdemeanours got one a sentence of transportation back then, and he ended up being transported to Australia. With his various brushes with the colonial authorities over time, he ended up on the infamous Sarah Island. From there he and nine others stole the wood that was shaped like a brig that was eventually to be called the Frederick once commissioned and with that sailed it away. They landed in Valdivia in Chile and six of the rogues disappeared to never be heard of again, Jimmy and three others idiotically stayed put and were given up by the local governor to a passing British military vessel. Back to Australia for Jimmy, once he was sentenced for absconding. After his famous voyage and incarceration on Norfolk Island, he ended up in Newcastle and all trace of him vanishes.

Author Peter Grose has surmised a lot of Jimmy's life based on what he could research of his criminal records and the two contradictory writings he left. The information as to the trial is readily available in the historical records. The Fredrick's voyage is known on Chile with a story called Los evadidos de Tasmania along with a “brief account” called James Porter, el bandido enamorado by Fernando Lizama-Murphy. Porters procurement of the Frederick was used by Marcus Clarke in his superb convict novel For the Term of His Natural Event as an inspiration for the character John Rex. Porter is also the reason for the longest running play in Australia, The Ship That Never Was, held nightly at Strahan the village in Macquarie Harbour where Sarah Island is situated. I must get there on my next visit to Tasmania.

This is not my style of delivery generally. I prefer my history delivered a bit more academic, but it would be churlish of me to be too critical. It is a fine yarn told for the curious and those that may be less enamoured by history, and recommended accordingly.