Maritime Archaeology

I have always had a curious passion for Maritime Archaeology.  Having grown up on a shipwreck coast I have long been fascinated by all things to do with the sea, especially maritime history.  Living in Western Australia we have many famous shipwreck sites but one of the most famous would have to be the notorious shipwreck of the VOC vessel, the Batavia.

 A ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia shipwrecked on her maiden voyage, hitting a reef near Beacon Island in 1629. A subsequent mutiny resulted in a massacre of the survivors.  While the Captain and a few crew went for help the survivors were stranded on the rocky atoll with Jeronimous Cornelisz in charge.  Cornelisz had been involved with a group of would be mutineers prior to the wreck and fearing they would be rescued and his part in the plot revealed he made a plan to overwhelm the rescuers and steal the boats.  He then set about coercing his few faithful followers into murdering the survivors. They killed 110 people but  a group of soldiers survived and escaped.  When the Captain and the rescue boats arrived Cornelisz and his men failed in their bid to take over the rescue ships and were subsequently tried for their crimes.

Cornelisz and the main mutineers had their hands chopped off and were hung.  Two younger accomplices were marooned on mainland Australia, this being prior to European settlement.  They were never heard of again.  This is just one of many shipwreck stories that have played out along the huge, reefed coastline of Western Australia 

It only seemed natural that a shipwreck should feature in the First Peron Cove Mystery, The Lighthouse Keeper.  The shipwreck in the story is that of a three masted barque called the Ellinor.  Like happened so many times in such cases it was impossible to save the passengers and crew. I wanted the shipwreck to be a catalyst for the events that would unfurl. The remoteness of many shipwrecks also made rescues difficult in the past. 

Western Australia has an amazing Shipwrecks Gallery and inside it you can see the slow and fastidious reconstruction of the reclaimed artefacts of the Batavia.  You can walk above it and under its looming edifice.  There are also the skeletons of some of the victims, painstakingly preserved in glass cases.  It's a somber exhibition but what is overwhelming is remembering that The Dutch East India Company was one of the first multinational companies and its ships bravely charted unknown seas in search of spices.

 

A little more in depth information can be found by following this link :

http://museum.wa.gov.au/research/research-areas/maritime-archaeology/batavia-cape-inscription/batavia

Looming Lighthouses

I have always been fascinated by those wondrous beacons, lighthouses. I have lived on the coast all my life and passed by a Lighthouse regularly.  The Western Australian coast is known as the shipwreck coast, the treacherous reefs claiming many victims over years. Many lighthouses dot along the rugged coastline.

I visit lighthouses whenever I travel and so it seemed like the perfect place to set Book One of The Peron Cove mysteries.  Although the lighthouse in the fictional town of Peron Cove is not a real lighthouse, it is based on several Western Australian and Victorian lighthouses I have visited.  The cottage in which one of the main characters, Ben, lives is based on the real Lighthouse Keepers cottages found beside Australian lighthouses. 

 

 

Megalophobia

 

I suffer from a weird phobia that has haunted me my entire life. It's called Megalophobia. Basically it's a fear of large and looming objects. Mine seems to be specific to huge ships in the water looming above me and large spouts of water or high fountains. Even as a baby I apparently screamed if a ship was shadowing above me in any way, even in a picture a book, such an image would make me cry. I recall a Disney book with people jumping to the safety of the water, from a burning ship, and being terrified of the image. I also recall an incident as a small child of sitting playing in the shallow water, my back to the sea, and unbeknownst to me a catamaran gliding silently into the shore behind me. I was frozen with fear. Even the scene in the movie Cowboys and Aliens, with the overturned paddle steamer in the desert, made my palms sweet and my heart rate increase.

It seemed natural then to include a scene in the book that explored this fear.  Even writing the scene made me wince in fear at the very thought of it ! 

Here are a few pictures I believe I took with my eyes almost closed !