Description

Shipwrecks of the Furneaux Group

Bass Strait is a dangerous place for shipping: fickle weather conditions, strong tidal currents and a multitude of shoals, reefs, and islands to avoid. But once it was put on the map by Bass and Flinders in 1798, Bass Strait soon became a vital shipping lane, especially as the Australian Colonies of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia developed. When the gold rush of the 1850’s brought a huge increase in shipping – and shipwrecks – a series of lighthouses was built to help sailors navigate these treacherous waters and provide refuge for those who vessels came to grief.

Starting with the first shipwreck in these waters, the Sydney Cove in 1797 – this book tells the stories of ships wrecked around the Furneaux Group, the islands at the eastern end of Bass Strait.

It also tells the stories of those who chose to live on the Furneaux islands – the ex-convicts, sealers, and adventurers know as the Straitsmen, the Tasmanian Aboriginal women they kidnapped, and the lighthouse keepers who saved many voyagers from disaster.