Pirate Attack on the Nelson
Picture this: It's 2 am on 2 April, 1852. A group of about 20 masked men climb aboard the barque Nelson as she lays at anchor in Hobsons Bay near the Williamstown Lighthouse.
They confront the few crew and passengers on board with pistols, forcing the mate to open up the lazarette -- the ship's secret store -- containing 23 boxes with a total of 8,183 ounces of gold. It is worth £30,686 or about $6 million in today's terms.
Grabbing the boxes, the pirates climb back over the side into waiting row boats.
One of the crew who lay hidden from the robbers, frees his tied-up ship mates and raises the alarm. Later in the daylight, one of the rowboats is found beached at St Kilda, with tracks of a horse and dray leading into the scrub. A government reward of £500 is offered and within a month, five men are caught -- James Morgan, James Duncan, John James, Stephen Fox and John Roberts.
The trial, held in the Geelong Courthouse, finds four of the men guilty and imprisons them for up to 20 years. Most of the gold is never found.
