346 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



arms and ammunition, and the two swivel guns on the poop. Then 

 they forced the lazarette, removed all the boxes of gold into their 

 boats, and compelled the crew to occupy its vacated place, carefully 

 battening them down, and calmly rowed away with their prize. 

 The audacity of this outrage can be better imagined when it is 

 stated that there were over forty ships at anchor in the bay, many 

 of them within easy hail of the Nelson, and a depot of the water 

 police and Customs officers within pistol shot. It chanced that 

 there was one sailor on board the Nelson who was awake and had 

 his wits about him. When he saw a crowd of armed men with 

 blackened faces hoisting themselves on board, he scented mischief 

 and promptly concealed himself under a boat. No doubt he quaked 

 when he heard firearms and struggling, but he lay still, and when 

 the gang finally departed he was able to release his comrades, who 

 would otherwise have had a foretaste of suffocation. As soon as 

 the mate was released, he went ashore to Williamstown, and by 

 sunrise the bay was alive with police and Customs boats, aided by 

 a contingent of volunteers from other ships, seeking for the track of 

 the pirates. All they found was the derelict whale-boats ; one on 

 the beach at Williamstown, the other afloat off St. Kilda, which at 

 first fathered the idea that the gang had divided their plunder and 

 separated. The subsequent discovery of the tracks of a heavily 

 laden dray on the St. Kilda beach led to the country around there 

 being scoured by the mounted police, only to find themselves 

 baffled. Only four out of the twenty-two were ever convicted for 

 this offence, and these were not caught for some time. They 

 volunteered the statement that they had sold all the plunder to 

 a well-known gold buyer in the city for 30s. an oz., but before 

 the trial came on the alleged buyer had gone to England, and 

 did not return to the colony. Large rewards were offered for 

 the conviction of these pirates, both by the Government and by 

 the agents of the Nelson, but the people clamoured for prevention 

 of the possibility of such deeds rather than for their punish- 

 ment, and the Anti-transportation League was invoked to take 

 action. Under its auspices a public meeting was held the day 

 after the robbery, at which vigorous speeches were made by the 

 Mayor and several members of the Legislative Council. They 



