William Swallow's Excellent Adventure

By Erik Sass |

Back when Australia was a penal colony, Macquarie Harbor, Tasmania, was the place that Britain sent criminals who were really bad… or really clever. On August 16th, 1829, one William Swallow -- a former sailor who used a long list of aliases -- led a group of convicts who talked their way out of manacles and seized the supply ship Cyprus. The crew was taken by surprise (the captain was fishing) and put ashore mostly unharmed, along with any convicts who didn’t want to join Swallow. What followed was one of history’s most incredible long-distance prison breaks.

The 17 convicts who agreed to come along with Swallow first sailed the 78-foot-long Cyprus to New Zealand, then north past Tahiti to Keppel’s Island, or Niuatoputapu, in the Tonga island chain; they spent six weeks on this idyllic paradise, and seven men chose to stay. The remaining ten (one was lost overboard) sailed on to Japan and then southern China.

Smooth Criminals

As they approached the Chinese coast, three men asked to be left on an island near Hong Kong, where they were later captured. Then in February 1830, the remaining seven scuttled the Cyprus and rowed into the southern Chinese port of Canton (Guangzhou) claiming to be shipwrecked sailors. They probably looked the part, and in an era before telegraphs or passports, British authorities in Canton had no way of knowing who they really were. Four of these men, including Swallow, signed on with the merchant ship Charles Grant, bound for London; the other three signed on with a Danish merchant ship, Pulen, headed for America.

Everything went smoothly until September 7th, 1830, when the Charles Grant pulled into London -- six days after a faster ship arrived with news from Tasmania and Canton, where police had finally put two and two together. All four were arrested, but only three were hung for piracy: somehow Swallow, the ringleader, convinced the jury he had been forced to navigate across 14,000 miles of ocean against his will. He was nonetheless sent back to Tasmania, where he died in 1834 at the age of 42. Thanks to him, however, the seven escapees on Keppel’s Island and three who sailed for America got away scot free.

In 1852 historian John West, who had visited Tasmania a decade before, recalled hearing a folk song telling the tale of the epic escape aboard the “The Cyprus Brig,” sung around campfires by convict colonists. The ballad, composed by a convict known as “Frank the Poet,” is still recognized in Tasmania today. The adventure was also recreated in London’s popular theaters for audiences clearly rooting for the underdog escaped convicts.

Update: Here's the song...

By popular demand, here are the lyrics to that song, courtesy of “Australian Folk Songs.”

Poor Tom Brown from Nottingham Jack Williams and poor Joe
They were three gallant poacher boys their country well does know
And by the laws of the Game Act that you may understand
Were fourteen years transported boys unto Van Diemen’s Land

When we landed in this colony to different masters went
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 Research 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.