GHOST
GALLEON
ERROL BISHOP
DISCLAIMER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual person living or dead is
entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Errol Bishop
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of
private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the
Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without
written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.
All rights reserved.
Published by:
Boolarong Press
655 Toohey Road
Salisbury Qld 4107
Australia
www.boolarongpress.com.au
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Title:
Ghost galleon / Errol Bishop.
ISBN:
9781925236378 (paperback)
Subjects:
Galleons--Fiction.
Shipwrecks--Fiction.
Voyages and travels--Fiction.
Portugal--Discovery and exploration--Fiction.
Portugal--History--16th century--Fiction.
Dewey Number: A823.4
Typeset in Photina MT 11.5pt.
Edited by Kerry Davies AE
Cover Design by Boolarong Press.
Printed and bound by Watson Ferguson & Company, Salisbury,
Brisbane, Australia.
For Mum
Contents
Prologue: The Age of Discovery 1
Chapter One: Somewhere off the east coast of the Great
South Land, circa mid-1500s 3
Chapter Two: Lisbon, three years earlier 9
Chapter Three: A leader of men 21
Chapter Four: The summons 25
Chapter Five: Into the unknown 33
Chapter Six: The hand of friendship 43
Chapter Seven: Island paradise 55
Chapter Eight: Moving on 65
Chapter Nine: Magellan’s Folly 75
Chapter Ten: Duty calls 81
Chapter Eleven: Preparing the way 85
Chapter Twelve: A false start 89
Chapter Thirteen: Towards the Great South Land 93
Chapter Fourteen: People of Kanak 99
Chapter Fifteen: A rich legacy 105
Chapter Sixteen: The passing of an age 113
Chapter Seventeen: Cupid’s bow 117
Chapter Eighteen: Marooned on The Great South
Land 125
Chapter Nineteen: A difficult time 137
Chapter Twenty: Fight for survival 143
vi
GHOST GALLEON
Chapter Twenty‑One: Retribution 155
Chapter Twenty‑Two: Alfredo’s walkabout 161
Chapter Twenty‑Three: Merchants of Lisbon 169
Chapter Twenty‑Four: Preparing for Timor 173
Chapter Twenty‑Five: Tribal ways 181
Chapter Twenty‑Six: The proposal 189
Chapter Twenty‑Seven: Hosea, Timor bound 191
Chapter Twenty‑Eight: Marcia and Miguletto, Timor
bound 201
Chapter Twenty‑Nine: Relaxing with friends 207
Chapter Thirty: Slow progress 211
Chapter Thirty‑One: Gathering of the tribes 219
Chapter Thirty‑Two: Shifting sands 233
Chapter Thirty‑Three: Miguletto’s grab for glory 241
Chapter Thirty‑Four: Rescued, or taken prisoner? 245
Chapter Thirty‑Five: Clapped in irons 259
Chapter Thirty‑Six: Widowed again 267
Chapter Thirty‑Seven: The sword speaks 271
Chapter Thirty‑Eight: A new beginning 275
Chapter Thirty‑Nine: Reunited 279
Epilogue: Ronaldo 283
Epilogue: Alfredo 287
Acknowledgements
Archaeologist Greg Jefferys extensively researched
the Stradbroke Galleon legend during the 1990s.
I was privileged to meet Greg at that time. I read,
with interest, his book The Stradbroke Island Galleon:
The Mystery of the Ship in the Swamp. My inspiration
for Ghost Galleon came from Greg’s belief that a
wooden ship lies buried towards the southern end of
Stradbroke’s Eighteen-Mile Swamp.
Without the professional assistance of my
editor, Kerry Davies, this book would not have
been published. My early drafts were rough but,
fortunately, Kerry recognised that hidden behind
my poor sentence structures and other grammatical
flaws was a story worth telling.
Lastly, I thank Karen, my wife, who encouraged
me especially when inspiration let me down. The
value of her belief in what I was trying to achieve is
immeasurable.
Prologue
The Age
of
Discovery
2
GHOST GALLEON
What catalysts influence the rise and fall of nations?
Portugal’s great Age of Discovery owed much to
Prince Henry the Navigator, even though his life
was over long before Dias, da Gama and Cabral’s
journeys of exploration made Portugal the greatest
seafaring nation of that era. Yet, a mere 100 years
after those great journeys, Portugal’s influence on
the world stage had waned.
Clearly Portugal, at one time, had the edge over
rival seafaring powers. Where did the Portuguese go
wrong? Unfortunately, most of Portugal’s historical
records dating back to, and before, the Age of
Discovery were destroyed by an earthquake. Still
we can surmise, we can extrapolate from known
facts and we can imagine scenarios that might have
contributed to that nation’s loss of influence.
The voyage of the Andorinha may or may not have
happened, but man’s determination to undertake
such ventures, even today, ensures there will always
be an Age of Discovery.
Chapter One
Somewhere
off
the east coast of
Great South Land,
circa mid-1500s
the
4
GHOST GALLEON
The leaden sky threatened violent conditions. Hosea
maintained his northward course into the waves.
To turn south, and try to outrun the worst of the
storm, would mean contending with a following sea.
When the sea became more turbulent, as he believed
it would, his ship might be swamped. The Andorinha
was sturdily built, a three-masted caravel, and his
crew experienced sailors, but to try to outrun this
storm in a boat encrusted with barnacles and weed,
and capable, at best, of a few knots, was madness.
There was no option but to take their chances when
the storm hit.
His crew had weathered great storms since
leaving Portugal two and a half years earlier, and
had experienced many wonders, but this sky was
ominous. They had been battered by fierce wind
gusts and squally rain in the Straits of Magellan, but
had emerged into the wide Pacific with remarkably
little damage. So they watched and waited and
prayed to God to protect them during the worst of the
blow.
Hosea Aurealias was a native of Aviero, a
Portuguese coastal port dating back to Roman
times. His father, a boatbuilder, had taught him
well, and young Hosea had sailed the protected
waters of Aviero from the time he was old enough
to launch his small craft and raise its sail. Portugal,
at that time, was the world’s pre-eminent seafaring
nation. The journeys of Dias, Cabral and da Gama,
to name a few, filled young Hosea’s heart with
wonder. Prince Henry the Navigator might have
died almost a century earlier, but his legacy of
enhanced navigational techniques, seaworthy craft
like the caravel and the discoveries of those brave
enough to push the boundaries, to go beyond what
SOMEWHERE OFF THE EAST COAST OF THE
GREAT SOUTH LAND, CIRCA MID-1500S
5
was previously known, ensured their deeds would
not only enthral, but also empower their small
nation. Hosea and his friends revered the heroes of
Portuguese expansion into the wider world of India,
Brazil, the Spice Islands and lands known but, as yet,
unexplored.
Hosea was enraptured by Magellan, regardless
of the fact that the Portuguese captain had sailed
for the cursed Spanish. He had sailed further
than any before him. Hosea dreamt of sailing into
history, but he proved to be much more than a
dreamer. He learnt all he could about the sea, about
ships and navigation and worked diligently when
opportunities arose. While still a boy, he fished the
Newfoundland cod banks. In Aviero, his reputation
grew. Hosea the boy had been welcomed aboard
every local boat as a crew member, but Hosea
the man was employed by the affluent merchants
of Oporto and Lisbon to captain cargo boats up
and down the Portuguese coast, across the sea
to England and through the Straits of Gibraltar
to North Africa. He proved a capable captain, his
only real drawback being his relatively humble
background. Without a sponsor, Hosea seemed
destined to forever sail trade vessels, the high points
of his career being those journeys to the fledgling
colony of Brazil, as well as the slightly more
established settlements in the Azores and Madeira.
Hosea made a good living and, along the way,
gathered seafarers around him who shared his love
and respect for the sea, and his desire to embark on
a great voyage of discovery just like the heroes of his
childhood.
The man who became his second-in-command,
Victor Rodriguez, hailed from Lisbon, making Victor
6
GHOST GALLEON
the only native of Lisbon to sail regularly with Hosea.
Most crew members were from small seafaring
communities, two from Hosea’s home town of Aviero
and two more from Oporto, the biggest town in
northern Portugal.
As Hosea scanned the darkening sky his thoughts
turned to Victor, who was forward helping a sailor
with some small task.
‘Ah, Victor!’ thought Hosea with a mixture of
frustration and affection. At their first meeting
in Lisbon, Victor had scurried up the gangplank
seconds before the ship was due to sail and begged
Hosea to allow him to crew as far as Tangier. Hosea
had heard of Victor, a man many considered a
capable seaman, but someone he would not, under
normal circumstances, have taken on. However,
he was short-handed this trip and welcomed
Victor aboard, a decision he looked back on with
satisfaction.
Hosea eventually learnt that Victor had been
fleeing from an irate husband that day. A man of
medium height, Victor’s athletic body, toned by hard
work, his blond hair, a legacy of his Swedish father,
and his devil-may-care attitude ensured that Victor
was popular with the ladies.
Both men understood the principles of navigation
and both were supremely confident of their ability
to read the stars or to use the astrolabe. Harmony
reigned when there was agreement over their
readings, but when a variation occurred, no matter
how small, both were confident their own reading
was correct. Hosea often allowed Victor to rule on
these occasions as there was no point splitting hairs.
His ship had two competent navigators. Although
their journey southward, then east towards the
SOMEWHERE OFF THE EAST COAST OF THE
GREAT SOUTH LAND, CIRCA MID-1500S
7
Straits of Gibraltar was uneventful, both men grew to
respect each other’s seamanship and recognised they
were in many ways kindred spirits in their love of the
sea, its power, its unforgiving nature and its allure.
‘We’re in for a difficult few hours. We have no
place to shelter,’ said Victor.
Hosea knew only too well that they had seen no
bays or inlets for two days now. ‘I agree, Victor. And
by hugging this coastline we’ve left ourselves no
room to manoeuvre. Let’s hope we can withstand
this battering.’
‘Remember, Hosea, how we survived that
Atlantic storm on one of our return journeys from
Brazil? This can be no worse.’
As Victor helped the men batten down, Hosea
reflected on that earlier storm. It had been a serious
blow, the worst he had experienced, and he had the
added burden on that journey of ensuring the safety
of Lady Marcia da Silva, the niece of King John III of
Portugal.
He hadn’t wanted passengers. His was a trading
vessel, and accommodating passengers meant less
space for goods, but the governor of Brazil had given
him little choice in the matter. The governor had
been commanded to find a berth for the King’s niece
and her companion on the next available ship sailing
for Lisbon. Reluctant though he had been, it was that
young woman’s praise of Hosea’s seamanship that
led him to where he was today, half a world away
from Portugal, exploring an uncharted coastline for
king and country.
The work done, Victor returned to Hosea at the
rail, for neither could turn away from the awesome
8
GHOST GALLEON
sight of the storm as it broiled and heaved in the
heavens, building in intensity, seemingly about to
embrace them in its unwelcome arms.
‘That Atlantic storm changed our lives,’ said
Hosea.
‘It wasn’t the storm; it was Lady Marcia who
changed our lives,’ countered Victor.