A Life on the Ocean Wave
The Journals of Captain George Bayly 1824-1844
Cannibals, convicts and pirates feature in this account of eleven voyages to Australia and other places in the early 1800s.
Awards
Shortlisted for the WA Premier's Literary Awards, Historical and Critical Studies Prize 1998
Opinion
'This is a volume of distinction, a well-rescued documentation of how many of us arrived here, an adventure and a rattling good sea story, even for those who may not know their larboard from their starboard. And the good captain's watercolours of his ship in exotic locations are entrancing.' --John Bryant, Canberra Times
"The Miegunyah Press and the editors are to be commended for the high production values of this book, particularly the fine selection of contemporary colour illustrations, including several paintings done by Bayley himself." (Mark Howard, International Journal of Maritime History, December 2000)
About this Title
Encounters with cannibals, convicts and pirates were just some of the highlights of eleven long journeys under sail Captain George Bayly made around the world in the early nineteenth century.
The journal Captain Bayly kept of his travels is notable for the historical significance of his voyages, and the writer's eye for a good story. It contains eyewitness accounts of the transportation of male and female convicts to Australia, the voyage of British immigrants to the ill-fated settlement attempted by Thomas Peel near Perth, hostilities between Maoris and Europeans, and trading voyages to and from China.
Captain Bayly's stories of typhoons, floods, heroic rescues, shipboard quarrels and deaths give the book appeal to a wide audience. The journal's depiction of the infant Australian settlements as just part of a widely-flung network of British colonial outposts in the nineteenth century also provide an insight into the nation's economic development.
About the Author
Dr Frederica Erickson OAM is a well-known West Australian naturalist, historian, artist, genealogist and author. She is the author of over fifteen books and many articles and papers.
Dr Pamela Statham is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Western Australia and the author of a number of books.
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