Pirates of the Pacific: The Convict Seizure of the Wellington

Abstract

The word 'pirates' immediately brings to mind romantic and fanciful images -buried treasure, the Jolly Roger, walking the plank, wooden legs, eye patches, rude parrots, the list goes on. Hollywood films about pirates have always been popular, from The Black Pirate of 1926 through to the swashbuckling adventures of Errol Flynn in 1940s The Sea Hawk and beyond. What the word 'pirates' doesn't usually bring to mind, though, is convicts in colonial New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Yet it was a word that occurred quite regularly with regard to them. This paper will highlight just why that was so, with special reference to one escapade involving the brig Wellington in 1826-27. It will point out too that there are some comparisons that can be made with what people might think of as 'traditional' pirate practices.