Bell's Weekly Messenger, No.1781, Sunday, May 16, 1830.
Interesting Narrative.
On Wednesday, a young man dressed in sailor's clothes, named John Popjoy, was brought before the sitting magistrate at Union hall, charged with an attempt to break into a house in the parish of Newington. The investigation of the case excited very great interest, owing to the accused having been the means of saving the lives of 40 persons, who were landed on a desart island, near New Zealand, in the month of August last, front a vessel called the Cyprus, the crew of which mutinied on the passage between Hobart town and M'Quarrie Harbour.
It appeared that the accused had been drinking with a shipmate until it was to late for him to return to his lodging, and was making his way into an empty house, when he was detected and brought, before the Magistrate, who was about to remand him, when Snow, the beadle of Newington, entered the office, and having recognised the accused, said that he had deserved better of his fellow countrymen than to be placed in the situation he then appeared. Snow knew him when a boy, and at a very early age he went to sea, and remained abroad 13 or 14 years and had not been heard of until on a recent occasion he (Snow) had heard from undoubted authority that he was the means of saving the lives of the crew and passengers of the brig Cyprus.
The Magistrate feeling very desirous of hearing the particulars of the mutiny onboard the vessel, requested Popjoy to give an account in his own say; a statement which may not be uninteresting to many of our readers. "In August, 1829, he embarked on board the Cyprus brig, at Hobart Town, bound for M'Quarrie Harbour, with convicts and a detachment of soldiers, under the command of Lieut. Carew, an officer of the 62d Regiment. On the third day they came to anchor, in Research Bay, and while there, Lieut. Carew proposed that some of the ship's crew, together with himself, should get into the long-boat for the purpose of fishing in shore. Towards the evening they heard several musket shot on board the brig, to which they pulled immediately, and found the convict's had mutinied, and were in possession of the vessel; they were immediately ordered on deck by the mutineers, who were all armed, and five soldiers were lying wounded near the mainmast, and groaning from the pain of their wounds. Popjoy was asked by the mutineer who acted as the captain, whether he would accompany them to the coast of Chili, on the promise of being made second mate; but he refused the offer, and was sent below with the ship's company, who at this time had not been sent ashore, owing to a heavy gale of wind that had just sprung up. Finding that a convict named Bryan, was sentinel over the hatchway, with whom Popjoy was rather a favourite, he was admitted upon deck by this man, and under pretence of going for a drink of water forward, he availed himself of the only chance of escape, and letting himself gently down by the fore-chains into the water, and swam to the shore through a tempestuous sea. On landing on a desert shore, Popjoy had not been long there before he discerned a light at some distance and having with difficulty, by wading a broad river and crossing a swamp, arrived at the spot, he there found Lieutenant Carew, his wife, and two children, and part of the crew of the Cyprus, in all about forty persons, who had been previously landed on this inhospitable shore by the mutineers. At daybreak next morning they had the mortification of beholding the brig under weigh, and steering off in an easterly direction, leaving those on shore to their fate, without food or means of escape. Under these discouraging circumstances, Popjoy, being an expert swimmer, volunteered with two other men to proceed in the direction of Hobart Town, to seek relief for their companions in distress, or die in the attempt. They had not proceeded far before they came to a broad river, when one of the party left his companions, declaring that he would go back and expire with the rest rather than hazard being drowned, or killed by the natives, Popjoy and his only companions then rushed into the river, and succeeded in gaining the opposite bank, and then went forward for about five miles, when they came to another river, across which they swam with their clothes on their heads, The moment, however, they got to the other side they were dreadfully alarmed on seeing a party of indians with long spears coming towards them; not a moment was to be lost now, and the two poor fellows were obliged to seek safety by flight, and re-cross the river, leaving their clothes behind them. They wandered three days away from the rest of their unfortunate companions, and on the way back Popjoy and his fellow traveller underwent very dreadful sufferings, both being naked, and having no ether food to subsist upon except wild berries and a few mussels they collected on the shore. When they got back to the place from whence they set out, their miserable fellow sufferers scarcely knew either of them, their bodies and legs were lacerated in such a manner by the bushes, briars, and stunted wood, over which they had passed in their journey.
On the return of this enterprising but unsuccessful attempt to gain Hobart Town, Popjoy constructed a kind of canoe out of the gum tree, in which he got out a sufficient distance to sea, to be enabled to catch fish for the subsistence of the whole party. In this way they continued to live for seven days, until the frail bark went to pieces, and then they were reduced to the necessity of living upon a few mussels and a species of wild parsley. The wife of Lieutenant Carew and his children now began to drop away, and fell sick; at length Popjoy succeeded in forming the frame of a canoe, and with two hammocks, which were brought on shore, he covered the bottom and, sides, and paid it all over with soap, which some of the people happened to have in their rockets when they were turned ashore. In this frail bark Popjoy and Morgan launched out to sea, and after being buffeted about for five days, on the evening of the fifth day were thrown ashore on Partridge Island, the canoe having gone to pieces, and had resigned themselves up for lost from the extremity of fatigue and starvation. They had not, however, been many hours in this deplorable condition before they heard the noise of a vessel coming round the Point. The vessel turned out to be the Orelia brig, which was compelled to put in from sea, and bring up at the anchorage, having experienced a tremendous gale of wind on her passage. Popjoy and his companion were taken on board in a truly deplorable state, and treated with that hospitality and kindness which their situation demanded. They gave information of the state of misery which their unfortunate companions were enduring in their desolate abode, and no time was lost in despatching two of the ship's boats laden with provisions for their use. The welcome assistance arrived in time to save the lives of the unfortunate sufferers, and in less than a week they were all landed safely in Hobart Town, and at the time of Popjoy's departure for England, were recovering from the effects of the dreadful privations which they suffered after being put ashore by the mutineers.
Popjoy produced a letter from the authorities of Hobart Town, in which his conduct during the trying occasion was extolled in the highest manner. If another day's delay had occurred, many of those who were thus fortunately saved must have perished. The bare fact of their having subsisted for thirteen days upon mussels, is a proof to what extremity of distress they must have been reduced.
Mr. Chambers listened with the utmost attention to the account given by Popjoy of his and his companion's suffering under the trying circumstances, and said that his conduct was entitled to the highest commendation. The Magistrate regretted that the poor fellow had been taken into custody, but hoped, if the vessel that he intended to go on board had sailed, something might be done for him to prevent his sustaining any loss by a detention on shore.
Notes
See the poem and song that tell the story of this event - Seizure of the "Cyprus Brig" in Recherche Bay and Cyprus Brig.
Showing posts with label Cyprus Brig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyprus Brig. Show all posts
The Making of the Coracle
The Hobart Town Courier Saturday 12 September 1829 p.3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4213841
THE MAKING OF THE CORACLE.
The gallant enterprise of Popjoy and Morgan in
venturing out to sea in quest of relief to the unfortunate crew and passengers of the Cyprus, having excited considerable interest, we have endeavoured to
give our readers some idea of the nature and construction of the small coracle which they managed to put
together at Research bay, and in which with two paddles they contrived to make their way through a
stormy sea, until they met with the Orelia off Partridge island, at 20 miles distance. The artist has
shown no small skill in depicting the despair of Lieut.
Carew, and the encouraging manner of Mrs. Carew,
with her little infant, as they watched the progress of
the small bark on which their only hope of preservation was placed.
[Woodcut of Cyprus castaways attributed to W. B. Gould, 1829]
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4213841
THE MAKING OF THE CORACLE.
 |
| Which was the means of saving the lives of the Crew and Passengers of the brig Cyprus. |
[Woodcut of Cyprus castaways attributed to W. B. Gould, 1829]
Edgar Waters
Folksong making in Australia
[From The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore edited by Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal pp. 162-163]
We know very little about folk songs of the early colonial period in Australia. We have a solitary recording of a song about the 'convict times' in Tasmania: 'The Seizure of the Cyprus Brig'. There is a poem, known from a manuscript, of this title, said to have been written by the Irish convict known as Frank the Poet. The song was recorded from an old whaler named Davies in the 1960s. It makes use of bits of the text from the manuscript poem, adds an introductory verse from a broad side ballad called 'Van Diemen's Land' and sets it to one of the tunes used for that song. 'Van Diemen's Land' is about poachers transported as convicts to Tasmania. Differing texts locate the poachers in Ireland, in England, and in Scotland. The tunes often have a vaguely Irish feel about them, but of course, as Samuel P. Bayard, the American authority on the song tunes of the British Isles, put it, 'We can often reasonably infer that a given version of some widespread air is Irish or Scottish, for example, but we cannot therefore claim that the air itself was of Scots or Irish origin'. Mr Davies's version of the tune, and his singing style, both suggest English rather than Irish influence. Frank the Poet's manuscript looks Irish; Mr Davies's song sounds - to use a term that gives offence to some - decidedly Anglo-Celtic.
A squatter from the country around Goulburn in New South Wales printed, in a book of reminiscences about life in the first half of the nineteenth century, the text of a song about an English convict transported for poaching. The tune used for this text, 'Jim Jones at Botany Bay', was 'Irish Molly-O', he said; seemingly another Anglo-Celtic song.
There is a song about the hardships of convicts at the penal settlement on Moreton Bay and the spearing to death of its commandant, Captain Patrick Logan, in 1830. The bushranger Ned Kelly seems to have been quoting it in part of his rambling 'Jerilderie letter', written in 1879. It purports to be the testimony of an Irish convict, and it has been attributed to Frank the Poet: text and tune both seem to be decidedly Irish in character. The only complete version recorded from oral tradition came from a fine singer, Simon McDonald, recorded by members of the Folk Lore Society of Victoria.
There is a cluster of ballads about the young Irish convict turned bushranger, Jack Donohoe, who was shot dead by mounted police troopers (the 'horse police') in 1830. Most of them are in a street ballad style that has nothing particularly to distinguish them as Irish; but some have texts that voice Irish defiance of British tyranny: 'He'd scorn to live in slavery or be humbled to the Crown'. There is plenty of literary evidence to show that ballads about Donohoe were much sung by bush workers, Irish-Australian or otherwise. From Donohoe, shot in 1830, to Ned Kelly, hanged in a Melbourne gaol in 1880, many of the notable bushrangers were Irish or Irish-Australian. (Those who like to think that Australians are a rebellious lot, and like to attribute this to Irish influence, sometimes dwell on this circumstance. It happens that a lot of the police who fought the bushrangers were also Irish-Australian. One of the policemen who finally captured Ned Kelly was a Senior Constable Kelly.)
The bushranger ballads, not unexpectedly then, often express Irish-Australian hostility to the British crown and hence Australian colonial authority. It is worth noting explicitly that they do not express hostility to fellow-Australians descended from other ethnic groups. Joseph Cashmere, a bush worker who had spent most of his working life in the south-western corner of New South Wales, told collectors in the 1950s that bushranger ballads had there been called 'treason songs'; a term once used in Ireland for anti-British songs. A policeman had once been offended when one of Cashmere's friends sang 'The Wild Colonial Boy', and locked up the singer for the night. But Cashmere did not suggest that a liking for bushranger ballads was in any way confined to Irish-Australians.
There is evidence aplenty to show that the attitudes to the bushrangers -- and the singing of bushranger ballads -- were determined by social class rather than ethnic origin. Bob Michel collected a version of 'Bold Jack Donohoe' from a singer in Queensland, who had learnt it from his brother. His brother had enrolled as a special policeman during the shearers' strike of 1891, and had gradually been won over to the shearers' side. He had learnt 'Bold Jack Donohoe' from some of the shearers. They sang it as an anthem of defiance, but no longer of Irish defiance of the British crown and its colonial representatives. Now the song was used to voice the feelings of a militant Australian working-class group and its defiance of home-grown squatters and the elected government of Queensland.
[From The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore edited by Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal pp. 162-163]
We know very little about folk songs of the early colonial period in Australia. We have a solitary recording of a song about the 'convict times' in Tasmania: 'The Seizure of the Cyprus Brig'. There is a poem, known from a manuscript, of this title, said to have been written by the Irish convict known as Frank the Poet. The song was recorded from an old whaler named Davies in the 1960s. It makes use of bits of the text from the manuscript poem, adds an introductory verse from a broad side ballad called 'Van Diemen's Land' and sets it to one of the tunes used for that song. 'Van Diemen's Land' is about poachers transported as convicts to Tasmania. Differing texts locate the poachers in Ireland, in England, and in Scotland. The tunes often have a vaguely Irish feel about them, but of course, as Samuel P. Bayard, the American authority on the song tunes of the British Isles, put it, 'We can often reasonably infer that a given version of some widespread air is Irish or Scottish, for example, but we cannot therefore claim that the air itself was of Scots or Irish origin'. Mr Davies's version of the tune, and his singing style, both suggest English rather than Irish influence. Frank the Poet's manuscript looks Irish; Mr Davies's song sounds - to use a term that gives offence to some - decidedly Anglo-Celtic.
A squatter from the country around Goulburn in New South Wales printed, in a book of reminiscences about life in the first half of the nineteenth century, the text of a song about an English convict transported for poaching. The tune used for this text, 'Jim Jones at Botany Bay', was 'Irish Molly-O', he said; seemingly another Anglo-Celtic song.
There is a song about the hardships of convicts at the penal settlement on Moreton Bay and the spearing to death of its commandant, Captain Patrick Logan, in 1830. The bushranger Ned Kelly seems to have been quoting it in part of his rambling 'Jerilderie letter', written in 1879. It purports to be the testimony of an Irish convict, and it has been attributed to Frank the Poet: text and tune both seem to be decidedly Irish in character. The only complete version recorded from oral tradition came from a fine singer, Simon McDonald, recorded by members of the Folk Lore Society of Victoria.
There is a cluster of ballads about the young Irish convict turned bushranger, Jack Donohoe, who was shot dead by mounted police troopers (the 'horse police') in 1830. Most of them are in a street ballad style that has nothing particularly to distinguish them as Irish; but some have texts that voice Irish defiance of British tyranny: 'He'd scorn to live in slavery or be humbled to the Crown'. There is plenty of literary evidence to show that ballads about Donohoe were much sung by bush workers, Irish-Australian or otherwise. From Donohoe, shot in 1830, to Ned Kelly, hanged in a Melbourne gaol in 1880, many of the notable bushrangers were Irish or Irish-Australian. (Those who like to think that Australians are a rebellious lot, and like to attribute this to Irish influence, sometimes dwell on this circumstance. It happens that a lot of the police who fought the bushrangers were also Irish-Australian. One of the policemen who finally captured Ned Kelly was a Senior Constable Kelly.)
The bushranger ballads, not unexpectedly then, often express Irish-Australian hostility to the British crown and hence Australian colonial authority. It is worth noting explicitly that they do not express hostility to fellow-Australians descended from other ethnic groups. Joseph Cashmere, a bush worker who had spent most of his working life in the south-western corner of New South Wales, told collectors in the 1950s that bushranger ballads had there been called 'treason songs'; a term once used in Ireland for anti-British songs. A policeman had once been offended when one of Cashmere's friends sang 'The Wild Colonial Boy', and locked up the singer for the night. But Cashmere did not suggest that a liking for bushranger ballads was in any way confined to Irish-Australians.
There is evidence aplenty to show that the attitudes to the bushrangers -- and the singing of bushranger ballads -- were determined by social class rather than ethnic origin. Bob Michel collected a version of 'Bold Jack Donohoe' from a singer in Queensland, who had learnt it from his brother. His brother had enrolled as a special policeman during the shearers' strike of 1891, and had gradually been won over to the shearers' side. He had learnt 'Bold Jack Donohoe' from some of the shearers. They sang it as an anthem of defiance, but no longer of Irish defiance of the British crown and its colonial representatives. Now the song was used to voice the feelings of a militant Australian working-class group and its defiance of home-grown squatters and the elected government of Queensland.
Piratical Seizure of The Government Brig Cyprus
Colonial Times Friday 4 September 1829 p.3
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/8644472
PIRATICAL SEIZURE OF The Government Brig Cyprus,
By Convicts, on their way to the Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour.
We last week mentioned that the Cyprus was on her passage to the Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour, conveying 31 prisoners under sentence of transportation to that place ; and having onboard a large supply of provisions for the Settlement ; and that the prisoners had mutinied aud taken possession of the vessel , and carried her out to sea.
On Monday afternoon, the Government sloop Opossum, which we reported in our last to have been ordered by Lieutenant Governor ARTHUR to Research Bay, to relieve the Military, the crew, and the prisoners, who had been put on shore there from the Cyprus, returned to port. The persons put on shore at Research Bay were, Lieutenant CAREW, 63d Regiment, his Lady, and two children ; Surgeon WILLIAMS ; Captain HARRISON, the master of the vessel ; the Chief Mate ; the Steward ; Mr. UNDERSHELL, the Commissariat Clerk ; 1 serjeant, and 9 privates of the 63d Regiment ; two women, wives of the soldiers, and one child ; 15 prisoners ; and the crew, seven in number, of the brig -in all 44 persons. ; all of whom arrived safe per the Opossum except five of the prisoners, who are endeavouring to make Hobart Town overland, by heading the River Huon. They had permission from Lieut. Carew to do so, under the impression that they would reaeh Hobart Town in five days from the time they sailed ; but as nearly three weeks have now elapsed since they left, fears are entertained of their safety, more especially as they had neither provisions, gun, nor hunting dog with them in the woods.
The following are the paiticulars of the capture of the Cyprus, as nearly as we have been able to collect them ; and we have taken some pains, in older to obtain the most authentic information, in which we believe our leaders may rely as to its accuracy :—
The Cyprus went into Research Bay on Monday, the 9th of August, in consequence of the wind being then foul, which prevented her from proceeding on her voyage round the coast to Macquarie Harbour. During her stay here, the Captain took the opportunity of recovering two anchors, which he had lost there about a fortnight previously, and, having taken in some fire-wood and water, expected to have had a fair wind, and to have sailed on the Saturday morning following. The preceding evening being very calm, Lieut. Carew, Mr. Burn, the mate, Mr. Williams, one soldier, and one prisoner went into the small boat to fish in the bay-leaving the Captain, the soldiers, and sentinels on Board, together with the ship's crew. This was about six o'clock in the afternoon, some time before dark. At this moment, while the fishing-boat was distanced from the vessel about two hundred and fifty yards, there were no persons on the ship's deck, except two sentinels on duty, each having a musket with fixed bayonets, and a soldier without arms—the rest of the soldiers and the serjeant, (together with all their muskets and ammunition) being between decks, taking supper ; and the master of the vessel and Mrs. Carew in the cabin ! At this moment also, there weie five of the prisoners on deck likewise ! They had been allowed to come up as an indulgence, as was granted to all the other prisoneis in theil turn, to receive the benefit of the air. These prisoners composed Walker ( an able seaman), Pennel, McKern, Jones, and Fergusson, a carpenter. With the exception of the latter, who assisted the ship's carpenter at his work, all these men were double ironed ! This man, together with Walker and Wood, who assisted the sailors to woik, were theiefore allowed to sleep with them, and of course to walk the decks, and were so doing at this period ! Fergusson here availed himself of the opportunity which presented itself, hy calling upon his fellow prisoners walking the deck, aud saying, that if they did not embrace that opportunity, he would discover their previous plots ; for that they had six favourable opportunities already, and did not avail themselves of either. They instantly rushed upon the two sentinels, and knocking them down, released the prisoners, who jumped on deck, and fastened down the hatchway on the soldiers, aud knocked down Captain Harrison, who had come up to see what was the matter. The soldiers instantly fired shots up through the hatchways at the prisoners ; and one of the balls passed through Walker's jacket. The pirates then poured down boiling water on the soldiers, and threatened to throw down a kettle of lighted pitch to smoke the ship, and smother them all, unless they immediately suaendered ! The soldiers could not standup in the little place tbey were in ; and, being deprived of light or air, and threatened with being instantly smothered, had no other alternative than to suuender their arms ; upon which they were let on deck, one by one ; when they were put into a boat, and guided by another boat, containing armed prisoners, until they were put on shore, when they repeated the same means, until they put the forty-five persons on shore. The whole time, from the first attack, until they shouted " the ship's our own," did not occupy more than eight or ten minutes ! ! ! One of the sentinels, named Scully, had his head cut in four several places.
When Lieutenant Carew came along-side to go on board, they refused to admit him, and Pennell levelled his piece at him, but it missed fire several times, the soldiers having wet the powder in the muskets before giving up the arms. They then demanded Lieutenant Carew's commission, which, in order to satisfy them, he said was on board. Upon the whole of these unfortunate persons being landed, the pirates sent on shore only 60lbs. of biscuit, 20lbs. of sugar, 4lbs. of tea, 20lbs. of flour, and 8 gallons of rum ; together with a lighted stick and a tinder-box, one musket, and a few rounds of ammunition ; but, although many were the en- treaties, they refused to give them their trunks, or clothes, or any other necessaries ; even Mrs. Carew's or her children's things, who were left so destitute, that Mrs. Carew would not come on shore, on the return of the Opossum in the harbour, until after dusk. These persons, 44 in number, remained 13 days in that desolate and forlorn situation, exposed to all the inclemency of the weather, both night and day, upon such a very scanty allowance, which did not of course last them many days ! Thus seventeen prisoners voluntarily went off in the Cyprus, besides Browne, one of the sailors, whom they hand-cuffed, and forced to go with them ; all the rest of the prisoneis they forced on shore, not knowing there was so large a quantity of provisions on board as actually was. Walker was appointed Captain ; Ferguson, who dressed himself in Lieutenant Carew's uniform, and put on his sword, was appointed Lieutenant, and Jones, the Mate ! They purposed making regulations when they got out to sea, and to make canvas clothing for the sailors, as they supposed there was a considerable quantity of canvas on board. Morgan and Knight, two more of the sailors, were also pressed, and ordered by Walker to remain on board, until next morning. They, however, treated them very well, and endeavoured by making them, drunk, to prevail upon them, to go with them; but they sternly refused, and were therefore put on shore next morning. McKern, one of the ringleaders, first picked out ten men, as they were determined to take no more ; but the remaining seven prevailed upon them to take them, as if they were put ashore, they said they would all suffer for having assisted in capturing the vessel ; upon which they were permitted to remain on board, though they apprehended they would come short of water. Walker, Ferguson, and Jones, promised to give Morgan and Knight (the two sailors whom they pressed) the jolly boat, to go on shore in the morning; but a James Cham refused, saying, that they might be becalmed off the coast, and wisely added that the jolly-boat might enable the Lieutenant to send an express to Hobart Town and cause them to be retaken. Pennell, Jones, and Watts became quite intoxicated the same night; and, at half-past five on Saturday morning, they gave three cheers, and sailed with a fair wind, and were out of sight in two hours, blowing hard from the north-west; and it was supposed that they bent their course for Valparaiso.
Knight, the sailor, though now a prisoner, was, we understand, formerly an officer in the navy. Walker pressed him very much to go with them, on account of the knowledge he possessed of the coast of Peru; but Morgan and Knight both resolutely refused. The latter is of opinion, they meant to go to the coast of Peru, and then scuttle the ship, and pretend they were sbip-wrecked sailors. He says, the fellows, have plenty of good clothes and boots and shoes, belonging to the Lieutenant, the Doctor, Captain, Mate, &c. ; and that they Have 8 casks, of 70 gallons each, containing 560 gallon's of water, being sufficient for two months, at two quarts each per day. A remarkable instance of the presence of mind in a female occurred. The Serjeant's wife, duriug the confusion rolled up the Government dispatches, intended for Macquarie Harbour, and actually succeeded in bringing them safe off in her apron ! The soldiers and crew, &c. were all searched previously to their being sent on shore ; and none were suf- fered on deck until the boats returned.—Several of these prisoners, it appears, were at Macquarie Harbour previously, and expressed themselves at all hazards never to go there again. They were heard to say, that they knew what they had to endure at that place, and would sooner die than go there again ! ! !
We come now to the wretched creatures, who were left on that desolate place, in Research Bay, without any shelter or food, and starvation staring them in the face. Mrs. Carew and her children must have suffered inconceivable hardships ; still this lady is said to have borne it better than many of the men ; her sufferings were greater than during the Peninsular war.—She slept in a hut constructed of branches and bushes, but they let all the rain through.—Popjoy, one of the prisoners, fished a little, the first few days, on a temporary raft, and caught a few small fish ; they also gathered a few muscles ; but during the last few days, the tides having risen too high, they could not get any more. Many of the individuals lived for some days upon a single muscle a-day. Their distress then became exceedingly great ; many of the children and people began to chew and smoke tobacco, in order io satisfy their hunger; the prisoners were at last driven to such a state of staivation, that they actually roasted a small lap dog, and eat it voraciously ; and, if relief had not fortunately been so soon obtained, they would have soon been reduced to cast lots for each other ! ! !
Cut off in this manner from all resources, Morgan and Meekins were indefatigable, in endeavouring to construct a raft to oross the Bay, but many of their efforts failed—at length, they succeeded in constructing a boat of wattles, cut with a, knife and a razor, and covered willi canvas—the canvas well soaped out-side ; and in this frail bark, with two paddies, upon which the hopes of about forty souls depended for their existence, did Morgan and Popjoy venture to cross a tempestuous Bay of no less than twenty miles distant, to Partridge Island ! She frequently disappeared among the waves, and with her vanished the hopes ot these unfortunates who gave up all for lost ; at length, after two days and two nights' hard pulling, they succeeded in reaching Partridge Island. They left their companions on Sunday evening, the moment after they finished the boat, and reached the island on Tuesday. Fortunately, therefore, the fire, which they succeeded to make, was noticed by the ship Orelia the same evening, who sent on shore to see what it was, supposing them to be runaway prisoners. The chief credit is due to Morgan, who built this curious and lucky boat, and afterwards ventured his life in her. They might have remained where they were ever since unnoticed, but for him, at least until the arrival of the brig Tamar, which they expected would shortly touch there on her way to Macquarie Harbour , but it is more than probable, that there would have been no survivor to tell the tale ; for in another week, they must have all perished, from hunger and want.
The Orelia, when she left Hobart Town, several days previous, passed within five miles of the shore where those poor people were left ; but although Lieutenant Carew fired away all his ammunition to make the Orelia observe them, he could not succeed. They even raised a flag, a white sheet, belonging to Mrs. Carew, and a red shirt belonging to a sailor, but all to no purpose, although within one mile of the vessel. We have seen the little boat by which the two men passed on to Partridge Island. It is tied together with rope-yarn, and seems rather a crazy concern to face the deep ocean. We understand the prisoners who were landed behaved well ; particularly Drury. Indeed, we think His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor could not bestow the Royal Mercy more deservedly, than upon the whole of these poor sufferers, who escaped from the jaws of starvation and death, and suffered such severe privations and hardships for the last fortnight, on a desolate place, where they could procure neither food nor shelter, not having even a kangaroo dog or gun ; but placed in fear of the native blacks. Upon the arrival of the Opossum in Research Bay, the soldiers and prisoners had to walk a distance of ten miles across the bush, before they could go on board, which took them 48 hours to accomplish, as well from the very weak and exhausted state they were in, as from the difficulties of the place they had to travel through, a thick scrub, Mrs. Carew and the women and children and the Officers of the ship came round in a boat, and no doubt were all rejoiced, at the providential relief afforded by the Opossum.
Research Bay is about 70 miles from Hobart Town, and Macquarie Harbour about 170 miles from that. The ship Georgiana and the Orelia were both lying at Partridge Island, wind-bound, when the Opossum left.
We are somewhat apprehensive that this affair will be a great temptation to other prisoners to make similar attempts, while this Penal Settlement is continued. It is, however, much better for the Colony that these desperate characters have got off, even with the loss sustained, than that they should have escaped into the bush, and have become bush-rangers, for ia all probability they would have then committed numerous depredations before they would be taken. There is also some consolation, that they committed no murders, nor ill-treated the women on this occasion.
The loss sustained is supposed to be very considerable :—
The vessel. . . £1500
Provisions, &c. . . 1000
Lieutenant Carew's losses. . . 500
Other passengers . . . 300
In cash about . . . 50
[Total] . . . £3,350
If any thing can induce the Settlement of Macquarie Harbour to be abandoned, we trust this loss will. We hope the Tamar will make a speedy passage, otherwise the Settlement of Macquarie Harbour will be in great distress; for the wind generally sets in foul nine months in the year. She began loading with provisions on Tuesday, and is expected to sail on Sunday.
The following is a list of the prisoners, who captured the Cyprus:—
Michael Herring, Robert McGuire, William Templeman, Matthew Pennell, William Watts, James Davis, Samuel Thacker, John Beveridge, Alexander Stevenson, Leslie Ferguson, John Lynch, James Jones, William Swallow (commonly called Walker), Charles Towers, James Cham, Thomas Bryant, John Denner, William Brown. In our next number, we propose to give some account of their crimes.
Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Monitor 23 June 1830
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32073773
The Commander of the schooner Harlequin while he was recently lying at New Zealand, in a vessel, of which he was second officer, spoke the Government brig Cyprus, which was piratically taken from this port about twelve months since, by a number of felons who were then being conveyed to the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbour. The person who appeared to have command of the vessel,
was the leading pirate Walker, who is a very skilful navigator. He is designated as Captain Walker by the rest of the pirates. They call the Cyprus the " Friends of Boston." She was taking in ballast and water, and had plenty of provisions on board
Bill Wannan: Cyprus Brig
CONVICT PIRATES MADE ONE SIMPLE MISTAKE SO . . . THEY SAILED TO PRISON
The Argus Saturday 14 July 1956 p.10
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/71645913
A SONG, very popular among the convicts of Van Diemen's Land in the early 1830's, and passed on by word of mouth to every chain gang on the island, told of the daring seizure of the brig Cyprus at Recherche Bay. Written by a prisoner known as Frank the Poet, the song ended with the rousing chorus:
Then sound your golden trumpets,
play on your tuneful notes
The Cyprus Brig is sailing,
how proudly now she floats.
May fortune help the noble lads,
and keep them ever free
From Gags, and Cats, and Chains, and Traps, and Cruel Tyranny.
In August, 1829, the Cyprus left Hobart Town with a party of 31 convicts, bound for Macquarie Harbor. Ten soldiers, commanded by a Lieutenant Carew, guarded the prisoners night and day. They were all looked on as "incor rigibles," and were being sent to "Hell's Gates," as Macquarie Harbor was called, for the term of their natural lives.
On August 9 the vessel put in to Recherche Bay to shelter from the wintry gales blowing up from the Southern Ocean. The prisoners, chained in groups of four on the lower deck, whispered among themselves. Two of their number had already tasted the appalling wretchedness of life at "Hell's Gates." They said death would be better than the fate that lay in store for them there.
A former seaman, Bill Swallow, said he knew how to navigate the ship. If he and his mates could capture her he'd have no difficulty in setting her course for China, or any other country they might choose. But what chance did. chained men have of seizing a vessel?
MUTINY!
THE opportunity came sooner than anyone had expected. Seven of the convicts were taken up on deck for exercise. Among them were two who had most consistently talked of escape, Ferguson and Walker. They saw at a glance the deck was guarded by only two soldiers, who at that moment were leaning over the rails, muskets carelessly held, looking at something in the water below.
There was immediate agreement the time had come to strike. In a flash the guards were over powered. Before a signal could be given, the mutineers battened down the hatchway leading to the deck where the other soldiers and a number of passengers were at tea. Irons were soon removed from each convict, and the ship was in their power.
Next morning the Cyprus sailed down the bay. Thirteen of the convicts did not want to stay on her, so were put ashore, along with the passengers — 45 men, women, and children. Bill Swallow took over the navigation of the vessel, setting her course for the Friendly Islands Mutiny! (Tonga Group). When they arrived there seven men deserted. Two of these we're subsequently captured and returned to Hobart Town, where one was hanged and the other condemned to Norfolk Island.
The Cyprus next headed up into the China Seas, its company depleted by several more desertions. One day as they were moving towards the China coast they came abreast a derelict craft, the Edward. Some of the men boarded her, and among the articles left in her cabin was a sextant bearing the engraved name of the captain, William Waldron.
It occurred to Bill Swallow the Edward might be the means of throwing off all suspicion as to their true identity. They would abandon the Cyprus and land not far from Canton.
They would pose as survivors of the wrecked Edward, and they would have the ship's sextant to prove it. The men agreed to the plan, and divided into two groups. One, led by Swallow, came to Canton, where Swallow, introducing himself to the British Committee of Supercargoes as Captain Waldron, told a pitiful story of wreck and privation.
The committee arranged for a free passage to England for the men; but before they had time to leave, other members of the Cyprus company arrived at Canton, and they, too, were taken before the British committee.
They told substantially the same tale as their mates, but said that the name of the Edward's captain was James Wilson.
Doubts were at once aroused. The eight men were taken into custody and sent to the police authorities in London.
Brought before magistrates at the Thames street police office, the men pleaded their story was in most details correct. There seemed to be no evidence to warrant their detention. They were on the point of being freed when the clerk of Court happened to remember a curious story told by an ex-convict, Popjoy, who had been brought before the Bench to answer a charge of begging around the London docks.
This man Popjoy had pleaded, as evidence of good character, that he was one of a party of men, women, and children landed in Recherche Bay by mutinous prisoners of the brig Cyprus, many months earlier.
The clerk of Court suggested there was a possibility that the men now before the magistrates might be some of the Cyprus mutineers.
At that time a Mr. Capon, the Hobart Town gaoler, was on a visit to London. He soon identified several of the convicts, and they were taken before the Court of Admiralty for punishment.
Two men, Watts and Davis, were hanged in London. One was freed from lack of evidence. The remainder were taken back to Hobart Town to stand trial for piracy.
Notes
See:
Seizure of the "Cyprus Brig" in Recherche Bay (c1842)
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Listen to Jack Davies sing the Cyprus Brig from a 1961 field recording
John Popjoy and the Cyprus Brig (1830)
BILL WANNAN'S COLONIAL CAVALCADE
 |
| The convicts stole up behind the unwary soldiers and quickly disarmed them |
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/71645913
A SONG, very popular among the convicts of Van Diemen's Land in the early 1830's, and passed on by word of mouth to every chain gang on the island, told of the daring seizure of the brig Cyprus at Recherche Bay. Written by a prisoner known as Frank the Poet, the song ended with the rousing chorus:
Then sound your golden trumpets,
play on your tuneful notes
The Cyprus Brig is sailing,
how proudly now she floats.
May fortune help the noble lads,
and keep them ever free
From Gags, and Cats, and Chains, and Traps, and Cruel Tyranny.
In August, 1829, the Cyprus left Hobart Town with a party of 31 convicts, bound for Macquarie Harbor. Ten soldiers, commanded by a Lieutenant Carew, guarded the prisoners night and day. They were all looked on as "incor rigibles," and were being sent to "Hell's Gates," as Macquarie Harbor was called, for the term of their natural lives.
On August 9 the vessel put in to Recherche Bay to shelter from the wintry gales blowing up from the Southern Ocean. The prisoners, chained in groups of four on the lower deck, whispered among themselves. Two of their number had already tasted the appalling wretchedness of life at "Hell's Gates." They said death would be better than the fate that lay in store for them there.
A former seaman, Bill Swallow, said he knew how to navigate the ship. If he and his mates could capture her he'd have no difficulty in setting her course for China, or any other country they might choose. But what chance did. chained men have of seizing a vessel?
MUTINY!
THE opportunity came sooner than anyone had expected. Seven of the convicts were taken up on deck for exercise. Among them were two who had most consistently talked of escape, Ferguson and Walker. They saw at a glance the deck was guarded by only two soldiers, who at that moment were leaning over the rails, muskets carelessly held, looking at something in the water below.
There was immediate agreement the time had come to strike. In a flash the guards were over powered. Before a signal could be given, the mutineers battened down the hatchway leading to the deck where the other soldiers and a number of passengers were at tea. Irons were soon removed from each convict, and the ship was in their power.
Next morning the Cyprus sailed down the bay. Thirteen of the convicts did not want to stay on her, so were put ashore, along with the passengers — 45 men, women, and children. Bill Swallow took over the navigation of the vessel, setting her course for the Friendly Islands Mutiny! (Tonga Group). When they arrived there seven men deserted. Two of these we're subsequently captured and returned to Hobart Town, where one was hanged and the other condemned to Norfolk Island.
The Cyprus next headed up into the China Seas, its company depleted by several more desertions. One day as they were moving towards the China coast they came abreast a derelict craft, the Edward. Some of the men boarded her, and among the articles left in her cabin was a sextant bearing the engraved name of the captain, William Waldron.
It occurred to Bill Swallow the Edward might be the means of throwing off all suspicion as to their true identity. They would abandon the Cyprus and land not far from Canton.
They would pose as survivors of the wrecked Edward, and they would have the ship's sextant to prove it. The men agreed to the plan, and divided into two groups. One, led by Swallow, came to Canton, where Swallow, introducing himself to the British Committee of Supercargoes as Captain Waldron, told a pitiful story of wreck and privation.
The committee arranged for a free passage to England for the men; but before they had time to leave, other members of the Cyprus company arrived at Canton, and they, too, were taken before the British committee.
They told substantially the same tale as their mates, but said that the name of the Edward's captain was James Wilson.
Doubts were at once aroused. The eight men were taken into custody and sent to the police authorities in London.
Brought before magistrates at the Thames street police office, the men pleaded their story was in most details correct. There seemed to be no evidence to warrant their detention. They were on the point of being freed when the clerk of Court happened to remember a curious story told by an ex-convict, Popjoy, who had been brought before the Bench to answer a charge of begging around the London docks.
This man Popjoy had pleaded, as evidence of good character, that he was one of a party of men, women, and children landed in Recherche Bay by mutinous prisoners of the brig Cyprus, many months earlier.
The clerk of Court suggested there was a possibility that the men now before the magistrates might be some of the Cyprus mutineers.
At that time a Mr. Capon, the Hobart Town gaoler, was on a visit to London. He soon identified several of the convicts, and they were taken before the Court of Admiralty for punishment.
Two men, Watts and Davis, were hanged in London. One was freed from lack of evidence. The remainder were taken back to Hobart Town to stand trial for piracy.
Notes
See:
Seizure of the "Cyprus Brig" in Recherche Bay (c1842)
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Listen to Jack Davies sing the Cyprus Brig from a 1961 field recording
John Popjoy and the Cyprus Brig (1830)
Cyprus Brig sighting by the Elizabeth and Mary
 |
| The Sydney Gazette 24 September 1829 |
The Elizabeth and Mary, from New Zealand and Macquarie Island, fell in with a brig three weeks since at Port Underwood, Cook's Straits, called by the master the "Friends of Boston." She was freshly painted black, and her figure-head appeared to have been recently cut off; she was stated to have come from Manilla through Torres' Straits, and was then on her way to the coast of Peru. But from Captain Worth and his crew's description of her she must have been the Cyprus brig, lately carried off by convicts from the Derwent ; the master's name is Walker. One of the crew of the schooner got some fish-hooks from the brig, wrapped up in a piece of a Hobart Town paper.
Notes
Walker, the master of the ship, was one of William Swallow(s) aliases.
see the Cyprus Brig on this site
Notes
Walker, the master of the ship, was one of William Swallow(s) aliases.
see the Cyprus Brig on this site
Seizure of the "Cyprus Brig" in Recherche Bay
A Song by Francis MacNamara
Came all you sons of freedom, a chorus join with me,
I'll sing a song of heroes, and glorious liberty.
Some lads condemn'd from England sail'd to Van Diemen's shore.
Their country, friends and parents, perhaps never to see more.
When landed in this Colony to different masters went,
For trifling offences, to Hobart Town Gaol were sent,
A second sentence being incurr'd we were order'd for to be
Sent to Macquarie Harbour, that place of tyranny.
The hardships we'd to undergo, are matters of record,
But who believes the convict, or who regards his word?
For starv'd and flogg'd and punish'd, depriv'd of all redress,
The Bush our only refuge, with death to end distress.
Hundreds of us were shot down, for daring to be free,
Numbers caught and banished, to life-long slavery.
Brave Swallow, Watt, and Davis, were in our noble band
Determin'd at the first slant, to quit Van Diemen's Land.
March'd down in chains and guarded, on the Cyprus Brig convey'd,
The topsails being hoisted, the anchor being weighed.
The wind it blew sou sou' west and on we went straightway,
Till we found ourselves wind bound, in gloomy Recherche Bay.
Twas August eighteen twenty nine, with thirty one on board,
Lieutenant Carew left the Brig, and soon we passed the word.
The Doctor too was absent, the soldiers off their guard,
A better opportunity could never have occurred.
Confined within a dismal hole, we soon contriv'd a plan,
To capture now the "Cyprus", or perish every man,
But thirteen turn'd faint-hearted and begged to go ashore,
So eighteen boys rush'd daring, and took the Brig and store.
We first address'd the soldiers "for liberty we crave,
Give up your arms this instant, or the sea will be your grave.
By tyranny we've been oppress'd, by your Colonial laws,
But we'll bid adieu to slavery, or die in freedom's cause."
We next drove off the Skipper, who came to help his crew,
Then gave three cheers for liberty, 'twas answer'd cheerly too.
We brought the sailors from below, and rowed them to the land,
Likewise the wife and children of Carew in command.
Supplies of food and water, we gave the vanquish'd crew,
Returning good for evil, as we'd been taught to do.
We mounted guard with watch and ward, then haul'd the boat aboard
We elected William Swallow, and obeyed our Captain's word.
The morn broke bright, the wind was fair, we headed for the sea
With one cheer more to those on shore and glorious liberty.
For navigating smartly Bill Swallow was the man,
Who laid a course out neatly to take us to Japan.
Then sound your golden trumpets, play on your tuneful notes
The "Cyprus Brig" is sailing, how proudly now she floats.
May fortune help the noble lads, and keep them ever free
From Gags, and Cats, and Chains and traps, and Cruel Tyranny.
Notes
The Cyprus Brig was rebuilt by convicts in 1825 at Macquarie Harbour, the 'Gates of Hell'. The brig was seized and used for escape by other convicts in Recherche Bay, August 1829. Naturally this escape story was a favourite of Tasmanian prisoners. MacNamara would have certainly heard this story during his time in Tasmania, it has many of the hallmarks of his writing where 'record' can rhyme with 'word' (especially for an Irish voice) and the ballad shows no hint of retreat from fierce support for rebellion and condemnation of tyranny.)
Recently the historian Nick Russell discovered that the convict story of their visit to Japan in 1830 was verified by a Japanese painter of the time as shown in the image below
In his History of Tasmania (1845) John West seems to have heard at least the first line of MacNamara's ballad "Came all you sons of freedom, a chorus join with me"
West wrote:
The capture of the Cyprus in Recherche Bay, on the voyage to Macquarie Harbour, was a stiring episode in the history of transportation. It excited vast interest in Great Britain, and was dramatised at a London theatre. The prisoners, who wage war with society, regarded the event with exultation; and long after, a song, composed by a sympathising poet, was propagated by oral tradition, and sung in chorus around the fires in the interior. This version of the story made the capture a triumph of the oppressed over the oppressors. The stanzas set forth the suffering of the prisoners by the cruelty of their masters, who they daily attempted to please. It related their flight from torture to the woods, and drew but a dreary picture of the life of an outlaw. It passed through the details of conviction and embarkation, and then described the dashing seamanship of the pirates in managing the bark, once destined to carry them to that place of suffering; but which bore "bold Captain Swallow", to the wide ocean and liberty.
See Thomas Whitley notes about MacNamara
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Listen to Jack Davies sing the Cyprus Brig from a 1961 field recording
 |
| Thomas Whitley transcription 1891 State Library NSW |
I'll sing a song of heroes, and glorious liberty.
Some lads condemn'd from England sail'd to Van Diemen's shore.
Their country, friends and parents, perhaps never to see more.
When landed in this Colony to different masters went,
For trifling offences, to Hobart Town Gaol were sent,
A second sentence being incurr'd we were order'd for to be
Sent to Macquarie Harbour, that place of tyranny.
The hardships we'd to undergo, are matters of record,
But who believes the convict, or who regards his word?
For starv'd and flogg'd and punish'd, depriv'd of all redress,
The Bush our only refuge, with death to end distress.
Hundreds of us were shot down, for daring to be free,
Numbers caught and banished, to life-long slavery.
Brave Swallow, Watt, and Davis, were in our noble band
Determin'd at the first slant, to quit Van Diemen's Land.
March'd down in chains and guarded, on the Cyprus Brig convey'd,
The topsails being hoisted, the anchor being weighed.
The wind it blew sou sou' west and on we went straightway,
Till we found ourselves wind bound, in gloomy Recherche Bay.
Twas August eighteen twenty nine, with thirty one on board,
Lieutenant Carew left the Brig, and soon we passed the word.
The Doctor too was absent, the soldiers off their guard,
A better opportunity could never have occurred.
Confined within a dismal hole, we soon contriv'd a plan,
To capture now the "Cyprus", or perish every man,
But thirteen turn'd faint-hearted and begged to go ashore,
So eighteen boys rush'd daring, and took the Brig and store.
We first address'd the soldiers "for liberty we crave,
Give up your arms this instant, or the sea will be your grave.
By tyranny we've been oppress'd, by your Colonial laws,
But we'll bid adieu to slavery, or die in freedom's cause."
We next drove off the Skipper, who came to help his crew,
Then gave three cheers for liberty, 'twas answer'd cheerly too.
We brought the sailors from below, and rowed them to the land,
Likewise the wife and children of Carew in command.
Supplies of food and water, we gave the vanquish'd crew,
Returning good for evil, as we'd been taught to do.
We mounted guard with watch and ward, then haul'd the boat aboard
We elected William Swallow, and obeyed our Captain's word.
The morn broke bright, the wind was fair, we headed for the sea
With one cheer more to those on shore and glorious liberty.
For navigating smartly Bill Swallow was the man,
Who laid a course out neatly to take us to Japan.
Then sound your golden trumpets, play on your tuneful notes
The "Cyprus Brig" is sailing, how proudly now she floats.
May fortune help the noble lads, and keep them ever free
From Gags, and Cats, and Chains and traps, and Cruel Tyranny.
Notes
 |
| The two-masted Cyprus Brig can be seen in this fragment of Augustus Earle's 1825 "Panorama of Hobart" The brig is the second vessel to the right of the flag pole. (Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW) |
Recently the historian Nick Russell discovered that the convict story of their visit to Japan in 1830 was verified by a Japanese painter of the time as shown in the image below
 |
Watercolour picture of a British-flagged ship that arrived off the coast of Mugi, in Shikoku, Japan, by the Samurai Hamaguchi.
Photograph: Tokushima prefectural archive
|
West wrote:
The capture of the Cyprus in Recherche Bay, on the voyage to Macquarie Harbour, was a stiring episode in the history of transportation. It excited vast interest in Great Britain, and was dramatised at a London theatre. The prisoners, who wage war with society, regarded the event with exultation; and long after, a song, composed by a sympathising poet, was propagated by oral tradition, and sung in chorus around the fires in the interior. This version of the story made the capture a triumph of the oppressed over the oppressors. The stanzas set forth the suffering of the prisoners by the cruelty of their masters, who they daily attempted to please. It related their flight from torture to the woods, and drew but a dreary picture of the life of an outlaw. It passed through the details of conviction and embarkation, and then described the dashing seamanship of the pirates in managing the bark, once destined to carry them to that place of suffering; but which bore "bold Captain Swallow", to the wide ocean and liberty.
See Thomas Whitley notes about MacNamara
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Listen to Jack Davies sing the Cyprus Brig from a 1961 field recording
Cyprus Brig
A song by Francis MacNamara
Collected by Lloyd Robson from J.H.Davies of Newtown, Tasmania, 1961.
And by the laws of our Game Act as you may understand
Were fourteen years transported boys all to Van Diemen's Land
When we landed in this colony to different masters sent
For little trifling offences boys to Hobart Town gaol were sent
Now the second sentence we received and ordered for to be
Sent to Macquarie Harbour that place of tyranny
Down Hobart Town streets we were guarded on the Cyprus Brig conveyed
Our topsails they were hoisted boys our anchor it was weighed
The wind it blew a nor nor west and on we steered straight way
Till we brought her to an anchorage in a place called Recherche Bay
Now confined in a dismal hole those lads contrived a plan
To take possession of that brig or else die every man
The plan it being approved upon we all retired to rest
And early next morning boys we put them to the test
Up steps bold Jack Muldemon his comrades three more
We soon disarmed the sentry and left him in his gore
Liberty Oh Liberty it's Liberty we crave
Deliver up your arms my boys or the sea shall be your grave
First we landed the soldiers the captain and his crew
We gave three cheers for Liberty and soon bid them adieu
William Swallows he was chosen our commander for to be
We gave three cheers for Liberty and boldly put to sea
Play on your golden trumpets boys and sound your cheerful notes
The Cyprus Brig's on the ocean boys by justice does she float
Notes
Lloyd Robson: Well perhaps you'd like to tell us then something about this song the Seizure of the Brig Cyprus Mr. Davies.
J.H.Davies: Well about all I can tell you about prisoners transported out here ... well they were sent out for fourteen years you see, and when they got to Hobart of course they were sent out to different Masters to work on farms mostly and for little offences they got sent to gaol to get a second sentence see. They were transported for the second sentence to Macquarie Harbour, to receive the second sentence you see. Of course that was a quite common thing in the prison times you know. They used to take these men out, ticket-of-leave men, they had to pay 'em a small wage, well of course there was no such thing as pay day in those days ... they paid you when you got the sack or else not at all. Well what they used to do the farmers in those days apply to get two or three or whatever they wanted onto their farm, and then when they had a bit of a cheque to come, they'd rig up some crime again 'em and send them into Hobart. Give them a letter to bring in to walk in perhaps ... the old boss was far away when they got to the gaol it was a letter to get a floggin'. That was quite common, and of course they'd lose their pay then, perhaps they's been workin' three months or more and get nothing for it, 'cause they'd committed an offence you see.
Lloyd Robson: Could you sing us this particular song, now then? How does that song go, about the Cyprus?
J.H.Davies: The Cyprus Brig? Yeah, I'll do me best.
[Recording transcribed by Mark Gregory April 2011]
The seizure of convict ships by convicts happened a number of times. This particular event occured in August 1829, and a manuscript in the Mitchell Library has a poem of 48 lines that commemorates the seizure. Titled 'Seizure of the Cyprus Brig in Recherche Bay' it is printed in Geoffrey Ingleton's True Patriots All and attributed to Frank MacNamara (Frank the Poet).
Hugh Anderson in his encylopaedic book Fairwell to Judges & Juries (2000:608) writes:
'A very good account of the events dealt with here is in F Clune and PR. Stephensen's "docu-fictional account", The Pirates of the Brig Cyprus (London, 1962), and which is complemented by the contemporary reports of the trial of the mutineers (14 October~ 14 December 1834) in S.A.Spence's book (Mitcham, Surrey, 1968).William Swallow, alias Brown, a seaman from North Shields, who was married with two children and aged 39 years when tried for housebreaking in Surrey, led a remarkable if miserable life. He was born at Sunderland in 1792, and as William Walker was apprenticed in a collier when aged 15 years. Three years later he was press ganged in the Royal Navy and served two years before being discharged into the chronic unemployment after the Napoleonic Wars. He sank into complete poverty and in October 1820 was caught stealing clothes and food down-valued to eightpence, for which he was given seven years transportation. On the way to London on the Merchant Packet Swallow jumped overboard, later claiming he had fallen from the rigging. Under the name William Walker he was sentenced at Durham in January 1821 for stealing a quilt and arrived in Hobart on the Malabar later that year. He did not remain in the colony for long, but absconded in the Deveron in 1823. As Swallow he was returned on 18 April 1829 on the Georgiana with a life sentence. Nevertheless, his convict record states he was "a very good man. William Swallow died at Port Arthur in May 1834.'
See Cyprus Brig trial Colonial Times (1831)
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Collected by Lloyd Robson from J.H.Davies of Newtown, Tasmania, 1961.
 |
| Cyprus Brig: J.H. Davies tune |
Poor Tom Brown from Nottingham Jack Williams and poor Joe
They were three gallant poacher boys their country all does knowAnd by the laws of our Game Act as you may understand
Were fourteen years transported boys all to Van Diemen's Land
When we landed in this colony to different masters sent
For little trifling offences boys to Hobart Town gaol were sent
Now the second sentence we received and ordered for to be
Sent to Macquarie Harbour that place of tyranny
Down Hobart Town streets we were guarded on the Cyprus Brig conveyed
Our topsails they were hoisted boys our anchor it was weighed
The wind it blew a nor nor west and on we steered straight way
Till we brought her to an anchorage in a place called Recherche Bay
Now confined in a dismal hole those lads contrived a plan
To take possession of that brig or else die every man
The plan it being approved upon we all retired to rest
And early next morning boys we put them to the test
Up steps bold Jack Muldemon his comrades three more
We soon disarmed the sentry and left him in his gore
Liberty Oh Liberty it's Liberty we crave
Deliver up your arms my boys or the sea shall be your grave
First we landed the soldiers the captain and his crew
We gave three cheers for Liberty and soon bid them adieu
William Swallows he was chosen our commander for to be
We gave three cheers for Liberty and boldly put to sea
Play on your golden trumpets boys and sound your cheerful notes
The Cyprus Brig's on the ocean boys by justice does she float
Notes
Lloyd Robson: Well perhaps you'd like to tell us then something about this song the Seizure of the Brig Cyprus Mr. Davies.
J.H.Davies: Well about all I can tell you about prisoners transported out here ... well they were sent out for fourteen years you see, and when they got to Hobart of course they were sent out to different Masters to work on farms mostly and for little offences they got sent to gaol to get a second sentence see. They were transported for the second sentence to Macquarie Harbour, to receive the second sentence you see. Of course that was a quite common thing in the prison times you know. They used to take these men out, ticket-of-leave men, they had to pay 'em a small wage, well of course there was no such thing as pay day in those days ... they paid you when you got the sack or else not at all. Well what they used to do the farmers in those days apply to get two or three or whatever they wanted onto their farm, and then when they had a bit of a cheque to come, they'd rig up some crime again 'em and send them into Hobart. Give them a letter to bring in to walk in perhaps ... the old boss was far away when they got to the gaol it was a letter to get a floggin'. That was quite common, and of course they'd lose their pay then, perhaps they's been workin' three months or more and get nothing for it, 'cause they'd committed an offence you see.
Lloyd Robson: Could you sing us this particular song, now then? How does that song go, about the Cyprus?
J.H.Davies: The Cyprus Brig? Yeah, I'll do me best.
[Recording transcribed by Mark Gregory April 2011]
The seizure of convict ships by convicts happened a number of times. This particular event occured in August 1829, and a manuscript in the Mitchell Library has a poem of 48 lines that commemorates the seizure. Titled 'Seizure of the Cyprus Brig in Recherche Bay' it is printed in Geoffrey Ingleton's True Patriots All and attributed to Frank MacNamara (Frank the Poet).
Hugh Anderson in his encylopaedic book Fairwell to Judges & Juries (2000:608) writes:
'A very good account of the events dealt with here is in F Clune and PR. Stephensen's "docu-fictional account", The Pirates of the Brig Cyprus (London, 1962), and which is complemented by the contemporary reports of the trial of the mutineers (14 October~ 14 December 1834) in S.A.Spence's book (Mitcham, Surrey, 1968).William Swallow, alias Brown, a seaman from North Shields, who was married with two children and aged 39 years when tried for housebreaking in Surrey, led a remarkable if miserable life. He was born at Sunderland in 1792, and as William Walker was apprenticed in a collier when aged 15 years. Three years later he was press ganged in the Royal Navy and served two years before being discharged into the chronic unemployment after the Napoleonic Wars. He sank into complete poverty and in October 1820 was caught stealing clothes and food down-valued to eightpence, for which he was given seven years transportation. On the way to London on the Merchant Packet Swallow jumped overboard, later claiming he had fallen from the rigging. Under the name William Walker he was sentenced at Durham in January 1821 for stealing a quilt and arrived in Hobart on the Malabar later that year. He did not remain in the colony for long, but absconded in the Deveron in 1823. As Swallow he was returned on 18 April 1829 on the Georgiana with a life sentence. Nevertheless, his convict record states he was "a very good man. William Swallow died at Port Arthur in May 1834.'
See Cyprus Brig trial Colonial Times (1831)
See also Cyprus Brig sighting: Sydney Gazette (1829)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)