2776) Leisure Time (Hobbies - Painting): i) "East Indiamen" Trading Vessels: ii) The mysterious Disappearance of the East Indiaman "Madagascar" - a maritime mystery: iii) A painting titled the "Madagascar" (by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee):
Links to posts by Anupda on this blog:
1) Leisure Time - (Hobbies): The Musical Journey of Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee (Anupda)
It was a large British merchant ship built for the trade to India and China in 1837 that disappeared on a voyage from Melbourne to London in 1853.
The disappearance of Madagascar was one of the great maritime mysteries of the 19th century and has been the subject of more speculation than any other 19th century maritime puzzle, except for the Mary Celeste.
Madagascar was the second Blackwall Frigate, and carried freight, passengers, and troops between England and India until the end of 1852.
In addition to her normal crew, she also carried many boys being trained as officers for the merchant marine.
Known as midshipmen from naval practice, their parents or guardians paid for their training, and they only received a nominal wage of usually a shilling a month.
The Madagascar on its final voyage to Melbourne, Australia and mysterious disappearance:
Because of the Victorian Gold Rush, Madagascar, under the command of Captain Fortescue William Harris, was sent to Melbourne with emigrants.
She left Plymouth on 11.03.1853 and, after an uneventful passage of 87 days, reached Melbourne on 10.06.1853.
14 of her 60-member crew jumped ship due to the lure of the Victorian Gold Rush, and only three replacements were signed on which left her manned short.
She then loaded a cargo that included wool, rice, and about two tonnes of gold valued at £240,000, and took on board about 110 passengers for London.
On 10.08.1853, just as she was preparing to sail, Melbourne police went on board and arrested a bushranger John Francis, who was later found to have been one of those responsible for robbing the Melbourne Private Escort between the McIvor goldfield (Heathcote, Victoria) and Keyneton a few days earlier.
On the following day the police arrested two others, one on board the ship and the other as he was preparing to board.
As a result of these arrests Madagascar could not leave Melbourne until the 12.08.1853. After she left Port Phillip Heads (also known as "The Rip"), the Madagascar was never seen again.
Some fascinationg theories about the fate of the "Madagascar":
When the ship's arrival became overdue in London, many theories were propounded, some of which were:
- Spontaneous combustion of the wool cargo,
- hitting an iceberg and,
- being seized by criminal elements of the passengers and/or crew and scuttled, with the gold being stolen and the remaining passengers and crew murdered.
- In 1872, rumours of a death-bed confession by a man who "knew who murdered the captain of the Madagascar" were first published.
- Several fictional accounts based on this rumour abound about the fate of the Madagascar, including one in the Biggles Series by W.E. Johns - "Biggles Breaks the Silence" and by Basil Lubbock (British) and James A. Michener - (American).
- Most 20th-century versions state that the death-bed confession was by a woman passenger who was taken by the mutineers, and by implication raped, and was too ashamed of what had happened to her to confess beforehand.
iii) The Painting titled the "Madagascar" (by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee):
1) Leisure Time Short Stories: Friends at the Crossroads
7) Leisure Time Short Stories: Connecting through several lifetimes: The Story of the "Panditji" (Priest) of the Hanuman Temple at Chandrasekhar Azad University, Kanpur
Rajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting post 👍👍"
Thank you, Trikha sahab.
DeleteSantosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY informative and interesting article."
Thank you so much, Khanna sahab.
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