Pirates and Samurai
EXHIBITION DEVELOPMENT
Australia Japan Foundation
2019-2020
In 2017, Japan-based historian Nick Russell uncovered evidence of an encounter between escaped convicts on a stolen ship from Van Diemen's Land and samurai and fishermen along the coast of Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku.
Nick Russell's discovery connected the foreign ship recorded in the samurai manuscripts to one of colonial Australia's greatest convict escape stories. The story of the Cyprus, a brig seized by convicts, on their way to Macquarie Harbour.
The Pirates and Samurai project will complete the translation of the manuscripts and research an exhibition of these documents and other art and objects at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) in Hobart and the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) in Sydney.
Through Samurai Eyes
PODCAST
ABC RN The History Listen
2019
Produced in 2019, Through Samurai Eyes is a one-hour audio documentary that retraces a remarkable 11-day encounter between escaped convicts from Van Dieman's Land and Japanese samurai in 1829.
When Japan-based historian Nick Russell translated manuscripts detailing the arrival of unidentified British ship off the coast of Tokushima in 1829, he not only solved a 190-year-old local legend but corroborated the claims of notorious convict escape artist William Swallow.
Commissioned by ABC Radio National in 2018, production on Through Samurai Eyes saw producers Aya Hatano and Tim Stone travel from Tasmania and Japan to interview experts, locals, descendants and Russell in order to retrace the steps of William Swallow and his convict crew in their audacious bid for freedom.
By combining the samurai manuscripts with William Swallow's sworn testimony, Through Samurai Eyes sheds new light on the piratical seizure of the Cyprus Brig in Van Diemen's Land, her voyage across the Pacific and an 11-day encounter between convicts and samurai at the height of Japan's isolation from the world.
Through Samurai Eyes was produced and narrated by Hatano and Stone with executive producer Michelle Raynor and sound design by Angie Grant. It features interviews with Nick Russell, Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, historian Warwick Hirst, archivist and librarian Caroline Homer, John Williams, historian Takeshi Tokuno and more. And features the vocal talents of actors Richard Piper, Paul English, Mayumi Nobetsu, Yuki Nagashima and Matsunaga Kazuyoshi. Through Samurai Eyes was mixed at ABC Southbank Studios in July 2019.
Interviewees:
Nick Russell, historian and English teacher
Takashi Tokuno, Director, Tokushima Prefectural Archives
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Professor of History, University of Tasmania
Actors: Mayumi Nobetsu, Yuki Nagashima, Kazuyoshi Matsunaga (Consul-General of Japan in Melbourne), Richard Piper, Paul English
Credits:
Producer Aya Hatano
Producer Tim Stone
Sound Engineer Angie Grant
Supervising Producer Michell Rayner
Through Samurai Eyes: Explainer for ABC RN
ABC The History Listen
Through Samurai Eyes (Part 1): shedding new light on Australia's greatest convict escape story
Duration: 28min 36sec
Broadcast: Tue 3 Sep 2019, 11:05am
An illustrated account of the arrival of a foreign ship, Hamaguchi Kanzaemon (1830), image courtesy of the Tokushima Prefectural Archives
When he bought a holiday shack on a small island off the coast of Shikoku in Japan, British expatriate Nick Russell stumbled across some documents which captivated him. They were a series of illustrated samurai manuscripts detailing an eleven-day cross-cultural encounter between locals and the crew of a mysterious foreign ship - a meeting which took place in 1830, at the height of Japan’s isolation period. After the Japanese ultimately fired cannons at the ship, it was assumed that the foreign 'pirates' on board had all been killed.
After two years of research, Nick Russell found evidence that the men on the ship were convicts who'd escaped from the penal colony in modern-day Tasmania, who'd made a daring bid for freedom by hijacking a prisoner transport ship, the Cyprus, and eventually make it all the way back to England.
Nick Russell’s discovery of the events recorded in the samurai manuscripts would help resolve a long-standing local mystery, and stand as a record of early contact between Australia and Japan.
Tebajima island, in Japan's Seto inland sea (supplied)
Interviewees:
Nick Russell, historian and English teacher
Hamish Maxwell-Stewart, Professor of History, University of Tasmania
Warwick Hurst, historian and author of The Man Who Stole The Cyprus
John Williams, author of Contrary Winds
Caroline Homer, Manager, Tasmanian State Library and Archive Service
Michelle Austen, Guide, Hobart Convict Penitentiary
Rob Thomas, Skipper, the Lady Nelson
Credits:
Producer, Tim Stone
Producer, Aya Hatano
Sound Engineer, Angie Grant
Supervising Producer, Michelle Rayner
ABC The History Listen
Through Samurai Eyes: Part 2: solving the mystery surrounding one of Australia's great convict escape stories
Duration: 28min 36sec
Broadcast: Tue 10 Sep 2019, 11:05am
An illustrated account of the arrival of a foreign ship, Hamaguchi Kanzaemon (1830), image courtesy of the Tokushima Prefectural Archives
When Japan-based British expatriate Nick Russell translated an illustrated samurai manuscript, he not only solved a Japanese mystery dating back almost two centuries, he also found evidence that vindicated the wild claims made by a convict escapee called William Swallow.
Along with four other men, Swallow was put on trial for the hijack and theft of the Cyprus Brig in Van Diemen's Land in 1830.
During the trial at London's Old Bailey, Swallow gave a full account of the mutiny, its voyage across the Pacific, and details of the convict crew's week-long encounter in Japan.
His claims had long been discredited, until Nick made the English language translation of the samurai manuscript.
Nick was convinced that the man documented in the manuscript was Swallow, and this discovery has shed new light on one of Australia's greatest convict escape stories.
Panorama of Hobart c.1825 by Augustus Earle. The Cyprus brig is the double mast vessel second left (FL3233426 State Library NSW)