Book Launch: Dangerous Passage - Ian Burnet

The reef-strewn passage between the Australian mainland and Papua New Guinea remains the most hazardous of all the major Straits in the world. It is 270 kilometres long and only 150 kilometres wide but contains over 274 islands, islets, coral reefs and coral cays and its waters are full of potential hazards separated by narrow and often dangerous channels.

The Torres Strait Islanders knew these waters well because voyaging and trade were part of their lives and livelihoods, but early European explorers like Luis Vas de Torres and James Cook were forced to find their route through the Strait without any previous maps.

Trade inevitably followed human settlement, and soon after the arrival of the first Europeans to settle on Australian soil in 1788, shipmasters were looking for economical routes to and from the new colony. Supplies would have to come from the north, and Torres Strait was a logical shortcut for ships sailing to or from Port Jackson and the Asian ports of India, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies.

Early navigators such as Torres, Cook, Bligh, Flinders, and King contributed to the charting of this dangerous passage. However, it was not until the completion of detailed hydrographic surveys undertaken by the British Admiralty in the 1840s, the advent of steamships, and the introduction of Torres Strait Pilots that it could ultimately be used as a major shipping route.

Readers should be advised that this history will include stories of M**der, mayhem, mutiny, disastrous shipwrecks, desperate voyages of survival in open boats, headhunting and hurricanes.

Ian Burnet has written four books on maritime history: Spice Islands, East Indies, The Tasman Map and Joseph Conrad’s Eastern Voyages. For more details go to - www.ianburnetbooks.com

Copies of the books will be available for purchase and be signed by the author.

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