The Nelson robbery was one of the major

crimes In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

of the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony, and an influx of population growth and financial capit ...

. It involved the robbery at gunpoint of 8,183

ounces The ounce () is any of several different units of mass, weight or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the , an Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The avoirdupois ounce (exactly ) is avoirdupois pound; this is the United States customa ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

valued at about £30,000 by a party of

thieves Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

from the

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

''Nelson'' as she lay at anchor in

Hobsons Bay Hobsons Bay is a small open bay in Victoria, Australia, and is the northernmost part of the larger Port Phillip Bay. Its western and eastern boundaries are marked by Point Gellibrand in and Point Ormond in respectively, and defines the coast ...

off

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on the night of 1–2 April 1852.Piracy on Board an Australian Ship
/ref>

''Nelson''

''Nelson'' was a barque of 603 29/100th

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s New Measurement, 128.2 x 26.9 x 19.4

feet The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

, built at

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

by Denny & Rankine in 1844. Her original owners were Lewis, Alexander, John and James Potter, Peter Denny and Daniel Rankine. She spent many years in the trade between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Melbourne. Years after the robbery, ''Nelson'' hit rocks and sank near the Seven Stones at the entrance to the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

on 7 October 1870 while on a voyage from Aguilas to the Tyne, drowning the master, Captain Henderson and two of her crew. The ship’s figurehead was recovered and on 25 February 2004 was sold at auction at

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

for £3760.

The robbery

On 18 October 1851, the ''Nelson'' arrived at Melbourne under the command of Captain Walter Wright. Having left

within days of the discovery of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, her master was unaware of the situation in port and over the days after arrival most of the crew jumped ship. The ''Nelson'' was, nevertheless, towed to Geelong, loaded a cargo of

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

and gold consigned by local merchants, and returned to Melbourne to find more crew. Captain Wright was staying in town, leaving the ''Nelson'' in charge of the First and Second Mates and three other crew, when a party of robbers estimated to number between ten and over twenty boarded the ship from two stolen boats, bailed up all on board, and forced their way into the lazarette containing the gold. One shot was fired during the outrage, slightly injuring the First Mate Henry Draper. The robbers then reboarded their boats and slipped off into the darkness. It was later discovered that they had landed on St Kilda beach and divided the gold amongst themselves before dispersing.

The trials

Over several weeks several men, mostly former

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

from

Van Diemens Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

, were arrested and charged with the robbery, of which nine were eventually tried. A series of trials, mostly before Chief Justice Sir

William à Beckett Sir William à Beckett (28 July 1806 – 27 June 1869) was a British barrister and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Background Born in London, he was the eldest son of William à Beckett, also a solicitor. His younger b ...

in Melbourne and Justice

Redmond Barry Sir Redmond Barry, (7 June 181323 November 1880), was a colonial judge in Victoria, Australia of Anglo-Irish origins. Barry was the inaugural Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, serving from 1853 until his death in 1880. He is arguably ...

in Geelong, ultimately sentenced five of them to lengthy sentences to hard labour in chains on the roads of Victoria: John James, James Duncan, James Morgan, Stephen Fox and John Roberts (who was later released after proving an

alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

but soon convicted of another crime). Several who were acquitted of the crime were later convicted of other crimes including the

St Kilda Road robberies It is widely believed that in the tumultuous years following the Victorian gold rush that a number of robberies by armed bandits, known in Australia as bushrangers, took place on St Kilda Road, then a track through the scrub from the city to the ...

. Police recovered some £2263 in gold, cash, banknotes and other property from those arrested, most of which was eventually redistributed amongst the original owners. It was believed that much of the balance that the police had not recovered was fenced with a St. Kilda publican John Milton Dascombe (1824–1868), who was never charged with being involved in the affair.

References

{{Reflist *The Melbourne ''Herald'' and ''Argus'', and Geelong ''Advertiser'' newspapers, various dates 1852. *Public Records Office of Victoria, VPRS 1189 Files. *Victorian Historical Magazine, Vol. 73, No. 2, September 2002. * Thomas McCombie (d. 1869) ''Australian Sketches, The Gold Discovery, Bush Graves, etc., etc.'', Sampson Low, Son & Co., London 1861. *

Marcus Clarke Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke (24 April 1846 – 2 August 1881) was an English-born Australian novelist, journalist, poet, editor, librarian, and playwright. He is best known for his 1874 novel '' For the Term of His Natural Life'', about the c ...

, ''Stories of Australia In the Early Days'', London, Hutchinson & Co., 1897 *Marten Syme, ''Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Victorian Ports, Volume II, 1846-1855'', Robuck Society. *National Archives (UK) BT 107/445, Register of British Ships, Glasgow 33/1844 Crime in Melbourne History of Australia (1788–1850) 1852 in Australia Organised crime events in Australia 1852 crimes in Australia Robberies in Australia April 1852 events 1850s crimes in Australia