When I was the producer/presenter of the ABC radio program “A Swag Of Yarns”, quite a few people told me stories about coincidences and I featured some of them in various specials. Some of them worked well on radio, but I didn't use them all, and in most instances I put them aside whilst I pondered what to do with them. I have always tended to work this way. It's surprising how many bits and pieces such as talks and interviews I have stored and then found a very good use for, some weeks, months, even years later. In this instance the idea has moved from being a radio program to becoming a written article. I think most of these stories will read better than if they were listened to. One story in particular, has been the impetus for this article. Written by Ed Douglas, it comes from the August 1996 edition of the journal Scottish Memories.

The story dates back to 1881 and is about a small coaster named Ferret, which plied the route between the mainland of Scotland and the Hebrides, but which was found a long way from home sailing the waters of Australia. Home for the Ferret was Stromeferry, a tiny harbour situated between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh. Coincidentally, it had also been the home of a young policeman who had had decided to make a new life for himself in Australia. And coincidentally, he chose to live in Melbourne. So it was that one evening, as he stood on the quayside watching the boats and ships sail up the Yarra to the Melbourne docks, he saw a ship that he was certain he knew from back home. The tall, narrow funnel, the flare of the bows and the shape of the superstructure were identical to the Ferret, but the name of the vessel was India. Could it be the same ship? And if so, how had it come the 10,000 miles across the oceans, and who had sailed her here? Curious, he went to the harbour offices and searched through the Lloyd's shipping register for information about both ships. What he found was a story in itself.

In June 1880, the Ferret had slipped its moorings in Glasgow and sailed down the Clyde into the open sea, never to be seen again. It was assumed that she must have sunk with all hands in the treacherous seas around the Western Isles. But what had actually happened was that the captain had sailed to Cardiff, paid off the crew with a cash sweetener, on the promise of nothing being said, and then with the bunkers full of coal and with a new crew, he had set sail for the South Atlantic. After laying a false trail to Gibralter, Captain Wright with his fellow conspirators, William Wallace the purser and a crewman called Henderson, changed course and sailed west to South America. A couple of weeks later, the steamer, now named Benton arrived at Santos in Brazil, where she filled her bunkers at the coaling station and then, because Santos was the world's largest exporter of coffee at that time, took on a cargo of coffee beans to take to Cape Town.

It was a difficult voyage with heavy headwinds, which tested the Clyde-built engines to their limit. But the Ferret survived, even though the stokers had to use the coffee beans for fuel, when they ran out of coal 200 miles from port. At Capetown, Henderson, who appears to have been the ringleader, sold the cargo for ten thousand pounds. He kept two thousand for himself and telegraphed the rest of the money to a friend in London. The identity of this person has never been discovered and all the documents that might have revealed the name have mysteriously disappeared.

On leaving Capetown, both ship and crew vanished into the Indian Ocean as Captain Wright charted a course to Australia. With the new name India, plans were made to sell the ship in Melbourne and for the crew to share in the proceeds, though it was revealed later that as far as Wright, Henderson and Wallace were concerned, if need be, the crew was expendable. Australian shipping agents were contacted and everything was set, with a buyer already negotiating the purchase when they sailed up the Yarra. It was then, by sheer coincidence, that the young ex-pat Scottish constable, now Melbourne police officer, saw the ship and stumbled upon the plan. As soon as the ship docked the police swooped and made their arrests. The three ringleaders were tried and found guilty of piracy. Each was sentenced to seven years penal servitude at Melbourne Gaol, where Ned Kelly had been hanged the previous year.

As for the Ferret, she reverted back to her original name. But she didn't go back to Scotland. Instead, she began a new career as a coastal steamer in Australian waters. Some forty year later, in 1920, her long and extraordinary career came to an end when she succumbed to the sea, “foundering in a tropical storm”.

As I said at the beginning, it's an amazing story as are so many coincidences.

David Mulhallen