Dedication: To my father James Ewan Maclean, one of that great company of adventurers, who in '51 left the conventions of the old world, and faring forth in their little wooden ships, braved the stress and storms of thirteen thousand miles at sea, and founded an empire for their children in the great new land of the south.

'Being the contents of the original manuscript written by Master Andrew Barton, sometime merchant and shipowner, of Plymouth Town, England, which was found in the old log hut on Curdie's River. In which ms. Master Barton tells of the wild voyages of the "Gold Moidore" and the "White Ship" to the Great South Land in search of treasure in the years 1627-1629, and of the astounding experiences by sea and land of the men who sailed in them.' (title page).

The title was changed from 'The Mahogany Ship' because of the release of Vernon Williams's book of that title in the same year.
Source: 'A Literary Coincidence'. The Queenslander 4 December 1920 p.22