Author(s): Sian Rees

SECONDHAND BOOKS | AUSTRALIANA

As dusk came down on the evening of 13 January 1834, James Porter and nine other convicts, transported at His Majesty's Pleasure to Van Diemen's Land, captured the newly launched barque the Frederick from their British masters. James Porter had spent the majority of his days since transportation planning how he would escape. Though he had mastered the art of fleeing his captors, he had not ever managed to stay free for long. He hoped he and his fellow ship thieves would fare better on this occasion. Rather than aim for a new life on the harsh islands of Bass Strait or the isolated coasts of New Zealand, the men decided to make their way to Valdivia, on the coast of Chile. Six thousand miles away on the other side of the Pacific, surely they could evade the British and assume new identities as shipwrecked mariners?

2005. Reprint. A trade paperback copy in very good condition.