The Strange Adventures of a South Seaman

On November 4th, 1830, a number of convicts were indicted at the / Admiralty Sessions of the Old Bailey for having on the 5th of / September in the previous year piratically seized a brig called the / _Cyprus_. A South Seaman was innocently and most involuntarily, as / shall be discovered presently, involved in this tragic business, to / which he is able to add a narrative that is certainly not known to any / of the chroniclers of crime. But first as to the piratical seizure.

The _Cyprus_, a colonial brig, had been chartered to convey a number / of convicts from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour, on the northern / coast of Tasmania, and Norfolk Island, distant about a week's sail / from Sydney -- in those days a penal settlement. There were thirty-two / felons in all. These men had been guilty of certain grave offences at / Hobart Town, and they had rendered themselves in consequence liable to / new punishment; they were tried before the Supreme Court of Judicature / there, and sentenced to be transported to the place above mentioned.