What do you think?
Rate this book
Ten Rogues : The unlikely story of convict schemers, a stolen brig and an escape from Van Diemen's land to Chile
From the grim docks of nineteenth-century London to the even grimmer shores of the brutal penal colony of Norfolk Island, this is a roller-coaster tale. It has everything: defiance of authority, treachery, piracy and mutiny, escape from the hangman’s noose and even love. Peopled with good men, buffoons, incompetents and larrikin convicts of the highest order, Ten Rogues is an unexpected and wickedly entertaining story from the great annals of Australia’s colonial history.
With the lightness of touch of the master storyteller that he is, Peter Grose brings to irresistible life the story of a small band of convicts who managed to escape the living hell of the Tasmanian penal colony of Sarah Island. Their getaway began by stealing the leaky and untested brig they had helped to build, and then sailing it across the Pacific from Tasmania to Chile with neither a map nor a chronometer.
But their story does not begin or end there. From the strong connection between the slave trade and convict ‘transportation’ to the possible illegality of the whole convict system, Ten Rogues shines a light into some dark and previously well-hidden corners of colonial history.
With the lightness of touch of the master storyteller that he is, Peter Grose brings to irresistible life the story of a small band of convicts who managed to escape the living hell of the Tasmanian penal colony of Sarah Island. Their getaway began by stealing the leaky and untested brig they had helped to build, and then sailing it across the Pacific from Tasmania to Chile with neither a map nor a chronometer.
But their story does not begin or end there. From the strong connection between the slave trade and convict ‘transportation’ to the possible illegality of the whole convict system, Ten Rogues shines a light into some dark and previously well-hidden corners of colonial history.
288 pages, Paperback
Published February 4, 2020
12 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 9, 2023
It had hard not be impressed that these ten rogues with their stealing a bunch of Huon pine (the ship that never was) were able to sail this wood from Van Diemen’s Land to Chile on what was an approximate journey of about 10,800 kilometres in some of the wildest seas that are imaginable.
It is also hard not be impressed that author Peter Grose has able to fill a 220-page book with as much information about this based on such limited information available, with “fill” being the operative word. Much of what he has filled the book with concerning convict history in Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Sarah Island this reviewer has read in much more depth. With a very bright and attractive cover and a breezy easy to read style, this would nonetheless be a very good read for the casual reader who has made a visit to Sarah Island and has a passing interest in this “……unlikely story”, to quote the subtitle.
The vast majority of the information available to us today is from the unreliable writings of convict Jimmy Porter. He gave two contradictory accounts of his actions, one written in Hobart in 1837 and the other at Norfolk Island in 1842. His versions of events were media sensations of their times. He and four other of his roguish colleague’s trial for piracy in 1837 were to become a legal sensation as well. What was a hanging offence became, after much discussion and debate in legal and media circles, just another sentence of transportation for life. Why? How can they be guilty of piracy when that is a crime of the high seas and the bunch of Huon pine was nothing but that! It may have looked like a brig, but show us the papers that it is one your honour. It is the King's own wood that has been stolen and from a harbour, not the high seas! This was a defence well-made by the defendants. The judge thought they had a point too, so let’s just send them to Norfolk Island, far better than cause célèbre hangings.
The main protagonist Jimmy Porter led a life. From the records attainable, he came from a well-to-do family but was always in trouble for minor misdemeanours. He went to sea as a young lad and ended up in Valparaiso in Chile and married locally and had children. Still young, the lure of the sea called, and off he went. He ended up back in England, but minor misdemeanours got one a sentence of transportation back then, and he ended up being transported to Australia. With his various brushes with the colonial authorities over time, he ended up on the infamous Sarah Island. From there he and nine others stole the wood that was shaped like a brig that was eventually to be called the Frederick once commissioned and with that sailed it away. They landed in Valdivia in Chile and six of the rogues disappeared to never be heard of again, Jimmy and three others idiotically stayed put and were given up by the local governor to a passing British military vessel. Back to Australia for Jimmy, once he was sentenced for absconding. After his famous voyage and incarceration on Norfolk Island, he ended up in Newcastle and all trace of him vanishes.
Author Peter Grose has surmised a lot of Jimmy’s life based on what he could research of his criminal records and the two contradictory writings he left. The information as to the trial is readily available in the historical records. The Fredrick’s voyage is known on Chile with a story called Los evadidos de Tasmania along with a “brief account” called James Porter, el bandido enamorado by Fernando Lizama-Murphy. Porters procurement of the Frederick was used by Marcus Clarke in his superb convict novel For the Term of His Natural Event as an inspiration for the character John Rex. Porter is also the reason for the longest running play in Australia, The Ship That Never Was, held nightly at Strahan the village in Macquarie Harbour where Sarah Island is situated. I must get there on my next visit to Tasmania.
This is not my style of delivery generally. I prefer my history delivered a bit more academic, but it would be churlish of me to be too critical. It is a fine yarn told for the curious and those that may be less enamoured by history, and recommended accordingly.
It is also hard not be impressed that author Peter Grose has able to fill a 220-page book with as much information about this based on such limited information available, with “fill” being the operative word. Much of what he has filled the book with concerning convict history in Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Sarah Island this reviewer has read in much more depth. With a very bright and attractive cover and a breezy easy to read style, this would nonetheless be a very good read for the casual reader who has made a visit to Sarah Island and has a passing interest in this “……unlikely story”, to quote the subtitle.
The vast majority of the information available to us today is from the unreliable writings of convict Jimmy Porter. He gave two contradictory accounts of his actions, one written in Hobart in 1837 and the other at Norfolk Island in 1842. His versions of events were media sensations of their times. He and four other of his roguish colleague’s trial for piracy in 1837 were to become a legal sensation as well. What was a hanging offence became, after much discussion and debate in legal and media circles, just another sentence of transportation for life. Why? How can they be guilty of piracy when that is a crime of the high seas and the bunch of Huon pine was nothing but that! It may have looked like a brig, but show us the papers that it is one your honour. It is the King's own wood that has been stolen and from a harbour, not the high seas! This was a defence well-made by the defendants. The judge thought they had a point too, so let’s just send them to Norfolk Island, far better than cause célèbre hangings.
The main protagonist Jimmy Porter led a life. From the records attainable, he came from a well-to-do family but was always in trouble for minor misdemeanours. He went to sea as a young lad and ended up in Valparaiso in Chile and married locally and had children. Still young, the lure of the sea called, and off he went. He ended up back in England, but minor misdemeanours got one a sentence of transportation back then, and he ended up being transported to Australia. With his various brushes with the colonial authorities over time, he ended up on the infamous Sarah Island. From there he and nine others stole the wood that was shaped like a brig that was eventually to be called the Frederick once commissioned and with that sailed it away. They landed in Valdivia in Chile and six of the rogues disappeared to never be heard of again, Jimmy and three others idiotically stayed put and were given up by the local governor to a passing British military vessel. Back to Australia for Jimmy, once he was sentenced for absconding. After his famous voyage and incarceration on Norfolk Island, he ended up in Newcastle and all trace of him vanishes.
Author Peter Grose has surmised a lot of Jimmy’s life based on what he could research of his criminal records and the two contradictory writings he left. The information as to the trial is readily available in the historical records. The Fredrick’s voyage is known on Chile with a story called Los evadidos de Tasmania along with a “brief account” called James Porter, el bandido enamorado by Fernando Lizama-Murphy. Porters procurement of the Frederick was used by Marcus Clarke in his superb convict novel For the Term of His Natural Event as an inspiration for the character John Rex. Porter is also the reason for the longest running play in Australia, The Ship That Never Was, held nightly at Strahan the village in Macquarie Harbour where Sarah Island is situated. I must get there on my next visit to Tasmania.
This is not my style of delivery generally. I prefer my history delivered a bit more academic, but it would be churlish of me to be too critical. It is a fine yarn told for the curious and those that may be less enamoured by history, and recommended accordingly.
September 29, 2020
A fascinating account of convicts on Sarah Island in Tasmania who escaped to Chile on a brig they had built themselves. Taken from personal writings of those involved. A really interesting read, with lots of historical information included.
January 3, 2024
It is astounding that stories like this have not been included at a high-school level as it would provide young people and students with an alternate perspective into Australian history. Peter Grose has given me an insight into historical facts that have often been left out from common knowledge on the foundations of this country of ours and it makes me wonder why. Why were we not educated on these stories at school? Why were students in the past not informed of the atrocities experienced by the poor-old convicts? Yes - ten rogues managed to 'escape' but many didn't. Many suffered incredible hardship for doing nothing but mischief and even sometimes, nothing at all except wanting to survive just one more day. Peter Grose highlights in this magnificent story some truths certain people have tried to hide, and even to some extent, have tried to suppress what really happened 200 years ago in attempts by the British to populate this country with people they did not want in their own back yard.
The schemers I found were the authorities and the system that allowed these ten heroes to want to leave and escape the extreme brutality and the horrors of the penal colony that Van Diemen's Land was. And escape to Chile they did - against all odds. WOW. It wasn't luck that got them there - it was courage and determination to survive just one more day. Incredible story.
The schemers I found were the authorities and the system that allowed these ten heroes to want to leave and escape the extreme brutality and the horrors of the penal colony that Van Diemen's Land was. And escape to Chile they did - against all odds. WOW. It wasn't luck that got them there - it was courage and determination to survive just one more day. Incredible story.
August 23, 2020
https://denisenewtonwrites.com/?p=1921
Ten Rogues: The Unlikely Story of Convict Schemers, a Stolen Brig and an Escape from Van Diemen's Land to ChilePeter Grose
These are the stories from our past – the funny, the ugly, the tragic, the astounding – that for me, make history so irresistible. Read this book for a rollicking good tale and to learn more about Australia’s colonial and convict periods. It delivers both in an entirely absorbing package.
Ten Rogues: The Unlikely Story of Convict Schemers, a Stolen Brig and an Escape from Van Diemen's Land to ChilePeter Grose
These are the stories from our past – the funny, the ugly, the tragic, the astounding – that for me, make history so irresistible. Read this book for a rollicking good tale and to learn more about Australia’s colonial and convict periods. It delivers both in an entirely absorbing package.
May 10, 2021
I am not a descendant of any convicts but still consider this to be a story from MY past - of ten convicts who managed, as the title suggests, to escape from Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) to South America. It has been well-researched and includes footnotes but is written more like a novel in the storytelling. It has drawn on accounts written by one of the ten convicts as well as much of the documents that still exist. I'm so glad I happened upon this in the library.
March 11, 2020
A very entertaining tale of convict Jimmy Porter and his adventures that led up to the stealing of the brig Frederick.
I really enjoyed it!
I really enjoyed it!
February 22, 2020
Ten Rogues: The Unlikely Story of Convict Schemers, a Stolen Brig and an Escape from Van Diemen’s Land to Chile (Allen and Unwin 2020) is a swashbuckling, rollicking historical tale from Peter Grose, who is a former journalist, a literary agent (he set up Curtis Brown in Australia) and the author of three books examining true historical events. Ten Rogues tells the story of the grim reality of convict transportation from nineteenth-century London to Australia, in particular the details of ten convicts who managed to escape from Tasmania by stealing a leaking brig and sailing it across the Pacific to Chile without any navigational instruments.
The wonderfully amusing and old-fashioned cover gives some indication of Grose’s literary style: he writes with great authority and with the benefit of extensive research, but he also treats everything he reads with suspicion and a sense of fun, questioning the accounts of events (both official government records and personal anecdotal convict stories), with the result that the entire tale teeters on the brink of what might in fiction be suspected as an unreliable narrator. In this non-fiction story, it is more the case that Grose is candid about the probable inaccuracies and deficiencies of the existing accounts, and highly suspicious of the motivations of some of the people telling the stories. In this way, he provides a clear-eyed perspective that is not naïve but rather asks questions every step of the way.
The other important aspect of this book is its exploration of the possible illegality of the whole convict system, and its close connection to slavery. His ruminations on this topic, and his inclusion (as appendices) of official court documents discussing this very issue, provide thought-provoking reading and a real insight into the moral and ethical operation of Australia’s penal colonies.
The book is dedicated thus: ‘For all those who have suffered, and those suffering today, from the baseless belief that harsh punishment reduces crime and reforms criminals,’ a concept which threads throughout the entire book.
So what is the story about? Well, it centres on Jimmy Porter, a ‘loveable rogue’. Grose begins the book by stating: ‘It’s hard to know whether to like or dislike Jimmy Porter’ and this dichotomy plays out throughout the story as Jimmy grows up in the squalor of inner London in the early 1800’s, falls foul of the law, and is eventually convicted and transported to Australia. Most of the book is based on two actual diary accounts written by Jimmy, but there are huge discrepancies and inconsistencies even between his own stories – he is a liar, a schemer, a hero; he is generous, dangerous, caring; he is rough, tough and tender; he is all of these things – a complicated portrait of a man pieced together through painstaking research and the evidence of his own hand. He and nine other convicted felons saw their chance to escape from Van Diemen’s Land and took it, outsmarting the local constabulary, horrifying the local population and astonishing even themselves with their outrageous acts of derring-do. Through Jimmy’s eyes we see life as a convict in the early settlement of Australia, and while his failings are never minimised, we also come to like, respect or appreciate his cunning and feisty manner and his determination and persistence. This story is entertaining, informative, thought-provoking and humorous, and proves the maxim that truth surely is stranger than fiction.
The wonderfully amusing and old-fashioned cover gives some indication of Grose’s literary style: he writes with great authority and with the benefit of extensive research, but he also treats everything he reads with suspicion and a sense of fun, questioning the accounts of events (both official government records and personal anecdotal convict stories), with the result that the entire tale teeters on the brink of what might in fiction be suspected as an unreliable narrator. In this non-fiction story, it is more the case that Grose is candid about the probable inaccuracies and deficiencies of the existing accounts, and highly suspicious of the motivations of some of the people telling the stories. In this way, he provides a clear-eyed perspective that is not naïve but rather asks questions every step of the way.
The other important aspect of this book is its exploration of the possible illegality of the whole convict system, and its close connection to slavery. His ruminations on this topic, and his inclusion (as appendices) of official court documents discussing this very issue, provide thought-provoking reading and a real insight into the moral and ethical operation of Australia’s penal colonies.
The book is dedicated thus: ‘For all those who have suffered, and those suffering today, from the baseless belief that harsh punishment reduces crime and reforms criminals,’ a concept which threads throughout the entire book.
So what is the story about? Well, it centres on Jimmy Porter, a ‘loveable rogue’. Grose begins the book by stating: ‘It’s hard to know whether to like or dislike Jimmy Porter’ and this dichotomy plays out throughout the story as Jimmy grows up in the squalor of inner London in the early 1800’s, falls foul of the law, and is eventually convicted and transported to Australia. Most of the book is based on two actual diary accounts written by Jimmy, but there are huge discrepancies and inconsistencies even between his own stories – he is a liar, a schemer, a hero; he is generous, dangerous, caring; he is rough, tough and tender; he is all of these things – a complicated portrait of a man pieced together through painstaking research and the evidence of his own hand. He and nine other convicted felons saw their chance to escape from Van Diemen’s Land and took it, outsmarting the local constabulary, horrifying the local population and astonishing even themselves with their outrageous acts of derring-do. Through Jimmy’s eyes we see life as a convict in the early settlement of Australia, and while his failings are never minimised, we also come to like, respect or appreciate his cunning and feisty manner and his determination and persistence. This story is entertaining, informative, thought-provoking and humorous, and proves the maxim that truth surely is stranger than fiction.
October 1, 2024
Not a bad read featuring convict life in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour in the 1830's. Books content relied heavily on one convicts two diaries which appeared to have been written for a targeted audience which some what tarnished their accuracy in my view. Ended too soon without much detail of their lives after the escape.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2020
An interesting account of early Australian history.
February 9, 2023
A well written account of this fascinating story
October 20, 2023
Entertaining, well-researched, easy read about a fascinating character from the convict era.
Read
November 2, 2024A great book, full of wonderful tales of Tasmania, most I had no idea about, but great historical stories - some worthy of a film.
September 12, 2020
Read this in two seatings. So readable, so amazing, and it happened. A great yarn, and I hope it gets wide readership - it deserves it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews