THE PIRATES OF THE BRIG CYPRUS

by P.R. Frank & Stephenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1962

In 18 the British system of colonizing new territories with convicts was reaching the end of its malevolent career. The true story retold in these pages is a product of that vicious practice, and incidentally provides much intimate information about it. This book is also the first accurate account of a most amazing adventure and a moving portrait of one man in particular, William Walker, alias Swallow, alias Brown, whose courage and cunning have seldom been equalled in either fact or fiction. Technically, the Cyprus incident was really piracy, not mutiny, since the 18 men who commandeered the brig were not part of her crew, but convicts being transported from Hobart Towo in Van Diemen's land (a large Island south of Australia) to Macquaric Harbor, a dreaded penal colony. The success of this venture, the subsequent voyages of these men to Tahil, Japan, and the China Sea, and the final capture and trial of those who returned to England, all make for absorbing reading. ""For narrative convenience,"" the authors have used ""the technique partly of an historical novel, and not of an historical treatise."" But for ""everything of factual importance there is documentary evidence."" At any rate, this is an exciting tale told simply and well.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION