AustLit

A trading ship discovers Yorke aboard his damaged ship and learns that all of his crew have been killed in a massacre in New Ireland. Yorke is helped to partially repair his ship and he joins the narrator, Drake, and a party of men searching for pearl shell. When a hurricane maroons Drake and Yorke on an island, Yorke reveals the rest of his story.

Becke gives examples of mortuary verse, ranging from Napoleon's grave to the miners of North Queensland.

An old Malay fisherman devises ingenious ways of making money.

Becke describes the variety of fish to be found at 'Mosman's Bay' in the 1870s, before Mosman became closely populated. He describes a method of catching the wary black bream, which he says he and his brothers were taught by Aboriginal people on the north coast of New South Wales.

The story of Jim Martin, the son of two convicts, who lives as a beachcomber on Nitendi. He wins the acceptance of the islanders through piracy, but his exploits bring an Australian gunship seeking retribution. Many of the villagers are murdered and their homes burnt. Martin escapes with his native wife, but when he saves the life of one of the ship's boys he brings about his own downfall.

Becke describes a fishing and pig-hunting expedition on an unnamed island. He is accompanied by a party of islanders and their wives, several youngsters and numerous dogs. Contains evocative descriptions of the landscape.

Tom Denison hears the story of 'Old Mary', who was found floating in a boat near Tahiti as a child in 1805. She lived a life of adventure and tragedy, experiencing piracy and the death of her children from smallpox, and witnessing the death of her beloved husband after his ship was captured by pirates. Eventually she settled on Tubuai Island, where Denison met her when she was approximately 70 years old.

Becke describes the various ways of stupefying fish practised by Aboriginal and Pacific Islander peoples. He condemns the destruction caused when dynamite is used for this purpose.

A sailor, John Corwell, discovers gold in New Guinea and conveys the news to Governor Phillip. Phillip provides the means for Corwell to repair his ship and mount an expedition to mine the gold. Accompanied by his wife, Corwell takes his four European crew members into his confidence once they reach New Guinea, but excludes the rest of his crew. When they discover the secret purpose of the voyage the men devise a plot to seize the gold for themselves.

Becke relates several anecdotes of poisoning resulting from handling or eating species of fish found in the Pacific region and on the Australian coast. He pays tribute to the knowledge Pacific Islander people have of these fish, some of which can be harmless at particular times of the year or in particular locations, and lethally poisonous at other times or in other places.